Prisoners at Kerevat prison undergo vocational training

PRISONERS at Kerevat jail in East New Britain are undergoing vocational training to help them get back to lead a positive life in society when they are released.
“We hope the 10-week course will equip the prisoners with life skills when they are released to re-join society,” jail commander Margaret Garap said.
A total of 120 low-risk prisoners, including 10 women, started the course on March 10, covering: life skills, agriculture-poultry and vegetable production, welding, carpentry, auto mechanic, panel beating, spray painting , plumbing, garment production and tourism and hospitality.
Garap said the trainers were from the Vunamami Farmers Training Centre (VFTC) and the Technical Vocational Education Training (Tvet) programme was a partnership between the CIS and the provincial education division.
Garap told The National in Kokopo on Thursday that, the CIS Department had given K137,956.50 to provincial education division through its Tvet section for the training. She said the training would help the prisoners to establish a new chapter in life so that they too could contribute to nation-building.
Garap said: “We now hve 376 prisoners, 251 convicted and the other 125 are on remand.”