•SOME of the students, who graduated from Chipata Trades Training Institute in Chipata recently. Pictures By JULIUS PHIRI.

By JULIUS PHIRI –
IT is a known fact that Zambia being a developing nation requires skilled manpower resources to drive its development agenda though Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training.
The end result is that, the youth are exposed to self entrepreneurship spirit, job and wealth creation.
Each year, thousands of young people are churned out of training institutions to add to the already saturated job hunters in the World.
A major result of the lack of jobs, has been the lowering of standards of living and the rising poverty levels accompanied by poor incomes of citizens.
Yes, despite this, the desperation of the youths has not been erroded.?Indeed, Government has shown commitment to providing the much-need support in every area that contributes towards economic growth and overall national development.
The Government has been paying attention to education, training, health, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), mining, tourism, agriculture and manufacturing.
The Government has implored the private and education sectors in the nation to work together to reduce the digital divide between the rich and the poor and between rural communities and urban communities by way of improving ICT skills of the citizens.
Skills trainings assist the youth to be empowered?through self employment with the necessary knowledge and skills which is yielding positive results for the Zambian economy.
Since time immemorial, Government regards education as a key to unlocking the human potential leading to prosperity and national development.?Government enacted the Teaching Professional Act of 2013 for the first time in the country.
Through the same Act, the expectation of the Government and the citizens at large, is to discharge the duties with impartiality as well as uphold dignity, honour and decorum of the nation.
The enactment of the Act would allow the teachers to effectively contribute and preside over the affairs of the country in line with the national agenda within their mandate of educating young men and women Chipata Trades Training Institute (CTTI) has, therefore, played a?significant role in the development of the nation through production of human resource in various fields.?Currently, some of the former students of the training institute are setting up a radio station in Vubwi District of Eastern Province.
During the graduation of 155 students who underwent various courses at the training institute, acting Principal Mirriam Mwale urged the graduates to display good behaviour and professionalism in their work.?Ms Mwale said the graduands were capable of creating their own employment by effectively using the acquired skills.
“Time to wait for formal jobs is long overdue. You must take advantage of Government policies and create your own wealth. The certificate you have acquired today should be the beginning of your great road to success and not the end,” she said.
Ms Mwale said the Government has put emphasis on empowering the youth and poverty alleviation through entrepreneurship.
On successes, the principal said the institute has registered as a contractor to boost the financial base because Chipata Trades wants to generate funds to pay for salaries.?She said despite that achievement, the institute has a?number of challenges such as lack of adequate furniture for the classrooms, library, utility vehicle, modern laboratories and machinery in the workshops.
Ms Mwale said the institution was in dire need of?equipment to achieve the dreams of Chipata Trades Training Institute becoming the first Government university college in Eastern Province.
She said it was also difficult to motivate and maintain members of staff due to poor working conditions and low funding from the Government.
However, Bridget Banda got the outstanding performance in secretarial work with 10 distinctions and three credits at the institute.
Education, Science, Vocational, Training and Early Education Minister Dr John Phiri said Government was appreciating the contribution of the many TEVET institutions across the country.
Dr Phiri said through Director of Vocational Education and Training Alex Simumba that such TEVET institutions like Chipata Trades Training Institute said the Government is not idle but will move on to introduce the TEVET reforms which is an attempt to provide an alternative solution to various problems.
Government regards education as a key to unlocking the human potential leading to prosperity and national?development.
“The Government, therefore, has made positive strides towards carrying out vigorous programmes with regard to its campaign promises and in line with the Patriotic Front (PF) manifesto,” Dr Phiri said.
The Government has embarked on infrastructure development which has been evidenced by building of new schools, roads, hospitals, colleges and universities across the country including changing colleges into universities.
“All this is to allow more of our citizens have the opportunity to education in line with the PF manifesto’s international commitment to education towards our vision expressed in Dakar, Senegal and global demands in?conformity with the revised Sixth National Development Plan and the vision 2030,” Dr Phiri said.
The Government was building Lundazi Trades Training Institute which would provide a platform for youths to acquire skills that they could be used to sustain their?livelihoods.
He said the Government was also building hostels at Chipata Trades Training Institute to a tune of K20,000 to help alleviate accommodation problems at the institute.
He said the completion of the hostel would help reduce accommodation shortage and also help the girl child to be safe.
Dr Phiri said he was also aware of many challenges that the Chipata Trades Training Institute was facing and that, Government would address some of the challenges and constraints facing the institution.
The minister said it was common knowledge that in Zambia today there were not many jobs to go round.?He said the Government has put much weight on training programmes which were preparing the young people for formal and white collar jobs.
He said going to schools or colleges meant that the only possible thing at the end of it all. is some plum formal job accompanied by some fat salary, analytically that was the sole objective for attending schools and colleges.
He said this unfortunately meant that the mentality has continued to plague people for a long time and to a larger extent, self employment which was inferior to formal employment.
He said the Government sponsored the National Programme for Poverty Reduction(NPRR) and the National Construction Council (NCC) programmes?in addition to the college conventional programmes in an endeavour to empower the youths?Dr Phiri urged the outgoing students to greatly value their hard earned training so that those still to come and those remaining, should be encouraged to follow their footsteps.
Indeed youths of this great land not only deserve better education but are also entitled to better and quality education.