Centre closes over money woes

THE Baisu Technical Educational Vocational Training (Tvet) Centre was forced to close last week because of a lack of funding.
The funding was supposed to come from the Government’s tuition fee free (TFF) programme as the centre is a registered Tvet centre, according to founder Fr Robert Nolie. The centre is located inside the Baisu prison camp in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands with some of the students being inmates while the others from surrounding communities.
More than 100 students were impacted.
Fr Nolie said the centre was part of the jail’s rehabilitation programme,
He said funding was the biggest need but it had not received any support from the government.
“This is a registered Tvet centre and has been doing its best to help the prisoners by teaching them technical knowledge and also it helps people from the surrounding communities as well,” Fr Nolie said.
He said more prisons needed to have Tvet centres teaching prisoners skills as part of their rehabilitation programmes.
Fr Nolie apologised to the parents and guardians and the management of the prison for the action taken.
He said those students who had enrolled from the local community could attend other centres in the province.
He said the centre would re-open next year once it acquired adequate funding.