WNB launches skills facility

 TECHNICAL vocational training is very important for skills related to developing the natural resources sector in the country, acting Education secretary Dr Joseph Pagelio says.
He said at the launch of the West New Britain Technical College last week in Kimbe that technical vocational education training (TVET) was much needed but under developed.
He said emphasis on TVET could play an important role in economic development.
The TVET sector provided the majority of the workforce worldwide
and this category of human capital was in short supply in the country, he said.
Pagelio said PNG was rich in
natural resources.
He said there was extensive natural gas and oil reserves as well as mineral deposits of gold and copper, the waters were rich in marine life and the forests abundant in commercially viable produce that were the prefect recipe for major economic advancement but it required skilled people.
“Even the country’s rich traditions and culture require human input to realise their economic value,” he said.
Pagelio said such colleges would be responsible for producing that manpower.
He described the opening of the college as another milestone in the deve­lopment of education in the country.