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Skills training vital, says TVET

Barack Obama, one of the hopefuls in the presidential race in the United States made some frank observations on the predicament of African-Americans, particularly the children.
His views resonate with what is happening in Papua New Guinea too.
Obama is reported to have said on his campaign trail that the destitute African-American parents should not have children they can’t afford to maintain.
In other words, Black parents should stop having many children only to allow them to suffer in poverty and destitution.
Obama, the son of a Nigerian father and a white American mother also had some counsel for parents across America.
He said if elected as president, a government he leads would invite the support of parents to share the responsibility of the better upbringing of children.
In a speech delivered at Manning in South Carolina, early last month and posted on his campaign website, Obama said: “… no matter how many government programmes we launch or how many tax dollars we spend, we can still fall short if each of us is unwilling to do our part.
“If we are unwilling to be responsible parents and turn off the TV, put away the video games, read to our child and attend those parent/teacher conferences, we can still fall short if don’t heal the hole in the hearts of all those young men standing on the street corners in every city in this country without a sense of any destiny other than ending in jail or dead.
“And healing that hole is going to take more than a change in policy; it’s going to take a change of heart.”
In another speech delivered elsewhere on his campaign trail, Obama also emphasised the need for skills education to lift America’s destitute out of the depths of poverty and disillusion.
He said children brought up in destitute homes in America need skills training to improve their lot.
Obama’s observations of America’s poor and the hope that can be provided are similar to what is happening with PNG’s destitute and deprived.
Recently, senior PNG education officials made similar comments to those of Obama at the Madang Provincial Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) trade fair in Madang town.
TVET superintendent at the National Education Department, Asnet Tugia said parents must encourage their children to take up skills training to be employable and sustain their living as white-collar jobs were scarce.
Mrs Tugia said parents should stop dreaming about their children getting while collar jobs after completing their studies as these were very scarce.
She said the National Education Department had shifted the focus on skills-based education from the lower levels up and this must be harnessed by parents, members of the community and schools.
Mrs Tugia issued the challenged when closing Madang’s first TVET trade fair organised by the technical vocational section of the provincial education division which saw seven vocation centres along with Madang Technical College and University of Technology participating.
Madang’s provincial education adviser Chris Bulu said the province had a 10-year plan for the development and use of TVET.
Mr Bulu said it was the vision of the Madang provincial government and administration to promote skills training in the province and also called on parents to harness this new approach to education.
He said skills training would begin at Grade 8 and upwards to ensure children grow up the education ladder with various skills.
Mr Bulu said the change to incorporate skills training in the curriculum was timely.
He also called on vocation schools, Madang Tech and Unitech to promote the new skills-based education so that parents become familiar and accept it.
He also invited the institutions to attend a bigger TVET trade fair planned for next year in Madang town.
Apart from Madang Tech and Unitech, seven vocational centres in Madang took part in the fair staged at the Madang University of PNG Centre. They include, Bau, Talidig, St Benedict’s Danib, Karkar, Ramu, Simbai and Amron.
Mrs Tugia and Mr Bulu were speaking at a trade fair that demonstrated how viable and skilled technical and vocational institutions can make out of the so-called “school dropouts” or youths who cannot make it up the education ladder and get that elusive white collar job in Port Moresby or Lae that many dream of.
During the two days, students put up demonstrations of what they do with their hands and the skills they are able to muster and in the end hope to move into the community as skilled and industrious members.
The main message from the Madang trade fair was what kids can do with their hands while studying at the different levels of education.
That at the end of the different stages of education, PNG’s youth must be provided with skills to use their hands to eke out a living, if they cannot move up the education ladder and get white collar jobs.