School builds its own truck

By PETER WARI
A SCHOOL truck built from metal scraps was driven around Mendi town on Wednesday, Nov 14 as students and staff smiled with glee.
It had taken the Mendi Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) Centre three years to build the truck.
People at the town cheered after realising it was the Mendi TVET Center teachers and students.
It brought hope and confidence to many people from Southern Highlands who were traumatised by the Febrary earthquake and election-related violence. Despite all the challenges, people have to move on and busy themselves in developmental activities – this was the message the teachers and students conveyed when driving the colorfully decorated school truck in town.
During the launching of the vehicle in the morning, school principal Andrew Sebe was in tears. Despite taking the center stage at the ceremony, he felt similarly detached from the tide of emotion and swelling up in the people around him. The school also launched its administration block built also by the teachers and students.
Sebe said the school had been without a truck and a proper administration building for many years and they were finally relieved.
“Our hardworking staff from the mechanical department has worked hard to put the school truck now on the road. From time to time, starting in 2016, the school has bought parts, travelled to old garages and returned with scraps. “That is why we have written ‘Built From Scraps’ at the back of the vehicle,” he said with a smile.
Mendi TVET Center is a kilometer away from Mendi town, located at the electoral boundaries of Mendi-Munihu and Imbonggu districts. Established during the colonial era, none of the teachers knew of its year of establishment. The Level 6 center has a staff ceiling of 19 teachers and a total of 300 students of which 90 are female.
Sebe said the province has six other TVET centers but Mendi TVET was the biggest that enrolls a the highest number of students and the teachers have worked very hard.
“It has brought tears to my eyes because many times teachers have been labelled as scrap collectors by people without understanding what plans they had.
“We have limited tools and equipment, only the good Lord will bless the hearts of those hard working teachers who managed to graduate students successfully every year.”
He said individual trade courses need thousands of kina to run and the tuition fee-free subsidy per head was not enough but they are thankful with the Government for giving hope to the unfortunate youths that would have been involved in illegal activities.
He said courses offered at the school were similar to technical and business colleges. The fee per head for technical college is almost K6,000 and policy makers must seriously look into the student learning at TVET level to provide best tools and equipment.
“In fact, every TVET school should be given priority because they will be the ones to absorb the dropouts and equip them with knowledge to start their lives,” he said.
He said the school had run down due to mismanagement in the previous years and the current management team had to start from scraps to give the best to the unfortunate dropouts and interested parents. He thanked former provincial education advisor Joel Raitano for funding a male dormitory.
“Our major problems encountered are the large number of enrolments due to the Government’s TFF policy and not enough tools and equipment to cater for all, shortage of qualified trade teachers in some areas and huge damages caused by the February earthquake,” he said.
He said within the four-year period under the new management, the school was able to bring forth some physical changes which were:
• The extension of school boundary
• A new office administration block
• A new dormitory for boys and hiring of machinery to clear the building sites
• The erecting of the new panel beating workshop and
• Building the school truck within three years from scraps collected.
Southern Highlands TVET inspector Lucinda Saul said TVET institutions were very expensive to run and it has been a struggle to provide the quality skill training required.
“We are thankful with the National Government with its TFF policy which has helped those schools to continue their yearly operations,” Saul said.
“However, TVET schools need more funding to put up the required infrastructure and equipment. This is to ensure quality education is acquired.
“As a result of TFF policy, many dropouts have ended up at the school because they desire to learn something that will help them live a meaningful life in the future.”
She said the students would go back to their communities or industries and contribute meaningfully in nation-building.
She said Mendi TVET has shown a good example in building their own school truck from scraps which is a milestone achievement and such an achievement would motivate students to go back and do something once they graduate.