No funding, centre to be closed

THE Baisu Technical Vocational Education Training (Tvet) centre in Western Highlands will close next month because there is no funding.
The centre did not receive its tuition fees free funds (TFF) from the government since last year.
More than 100 students, including prisoners at Baisu jail, attend the Tvet centre through their rehabilitation programme.
Centre manager David Tano said they could not operate without any funding support because the TVET did not receive TFF to operate.
He said last year, the centre enrolled more than 100 students and operated on what they could collect from students.
Tano said they could not continue like that and so decided to close the centre so parents and guardians could enrol students elsewhere.
“This is a registered centre and I do not know why we are left in the dark like that,” he said.
“We are teaching the students and also this Tvet centre is contributing meaningfully towards the prisoners’ rehabilitation programme but it is sad that we are forgotten by the Government,” Tano said.
Board chairman and Catholic Church priest Fr Robert Nolie said they had no option but to close.
He said this would affect the students as they had to apply elsewhere or stay home.
Nolie said the centre had played its part to provide the knowledge but it needed the funding and support from the Government.
He said since last year, the centre’s bank account was in red and they would not allow this to go on.
“We are talking about the future of the people who do studies here who come here to continue their studies.
The board has no option but to close the centre,” he said.