By Abass Jalloh
The Minister of Technical and Higher Education (MTHE), Dr. Alpha Wurie, has stated that for this year three thousand three hundred and forty-four (3,344) candidates took the technical and vocational exams which were examined by the National Council for Technical Vocational and other Academic Awards (NCTVA).
He made the disclosure yesterday 4th August 2022 at the weekly press briefing of the Ministry of Information and Communications in Freetown while talking about the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) which comprises formal and non-formal programmes, delivered by different providers at various qualification levels.
Two hundred and thirty-five (235) of those are from higher national diplomas, according to the minister, adding that the essence now is how these students are to be given tuition in “pedagogical training”.
The minister said the NCYVA does not only examine technical and vocational institutes but also teacher training and that within the institutions they train teachers for primary and secondary schools which hand them certificates.
Dr. Wurie added that all the districts, except Falaba, now have examination centers. “So there are 26 examination centers for which students can be assessed in a range of technical options like construction work and more”.
“However, this time there is assessment of work in mining, fisheries, and hospitality industry,” the minister said, noting that “we want the general public to know that when we talk about technical, the focus is not only on building or construction work.”
The minister said the whole idea is to acknowledge that Sierra Leone has now stratified its technical options and that the country has now gone through the national qualification framework for one to have a “level comparable to the formal one”.
Dr. Wurie said: “In this country, there are people with skills and the right acumen, not only aptitude and knowledge but they are not classified adequately for you to put respectability to the knowledge that they have.”
He also acknowledged the elevation of Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET) and the Eastern Polytechnic (EP) to technical universities.
“This clearly shows that Sierra Leone is now poised to give respectability to all technical options in automobile, fisheries, mining, building and construction, hospitality and catering services as they produce graduates with certificates, diplomas, and degrees in these options,” he pointed out.
“To serve these technical universities, we now have in place a host of technical vocational institutions starting with Government Technical Institutes (GTIs) and other private technical vocational institutions in each district of Sierra Leone,” he said, noting that these serve as the main technical vocational institutions that would be addressed based on skills and appropriate education for all adults to progress to a technical university.
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