Dept upskills staff

 By TED WIKA KALEO  

THE Department of Works will revitalise its apprenticeship programme to train and upskill young technical staff in preparation to replacing the aging workforce and increase productivity.

Works Secretary David Wereh said that during a graduation at the Works apprenticeship certificate awarding event in Port Moresby last week.

Wereh said the aim of the programme was to train young staff and increase the number of technical workforce in the Department to promote efficient service delivery in the country.  

“We need more skilled human resources in the country to deliver effective and lasting services.

“If the government can see this need, we can join hands to train and upskill our local staff so they can replace the aging workforce. Otherwise, we will import technical staff from overseas and that will be a very expensive exercise.

“We want to see plant and transport division (PTD) revitalise and fully commercialise the programme because it is sustainable and accessible to mobilise services to our people, which means we will require people to manage engineering equipment in all our districts,” Wereh said.

He said the department would be looking at a restructure programme to replace aging staff. 

He said the Works Department would retire more than 70 workers at the end of the year. 

The apprenticeship certificate awarding event saw 14 Works technical staff from different provinces receiving certificates in motor vehicle mechanic and auto electrical.

The programme was abolished in 1994 following the National Executive Committee’s decision to lay off workers. It was reintroduced in 2010.

The programme will receive full funding starting next year from the PTD under the department of human resources development (HRD) and will be made an ongoing programme. 

Senior apprenticeship training coordinator Naime Dai said the apprenticeship training was a milestone achievement for the department, considering that the programme had been abolished for more than 15 years.