VOINJAMA, Lofa – The Voinjama Multilateral High School has officially launched its technical and vocational education and training program for students to acquire skills in five technical areas.
They include carpentry, catering, electricity, information communication technology, and pastry. When the two departments ‘ equipment is available, auto mechanics and driving will be added later.
The program was launched on May 9, with students, representatives of government institutions and agencies, civil society organizations, and representatives from the Ministry of Education attending.
The Voinjama Multilateral High School was established in the 1960s with a TVET program attached, but the facilities were destroyed during the civil war.
The school was reconstructed and reopened after the war, but the TVET component was not reactivated because of limited funding and insufficiently skilled teachers required to run the program.
Negotiations for the TVET programs first began in 2018 when then-vice president Joseph Boakai visited the school along with the Swedish ambassador. The Swedish government was later persuaded to undertake the project. UNIDO was contracted to renovate the facilities and equip them with the tools and materials to run the TVET program effectively.
Giving an overview of the TVET –program, Principal Kesselly Guluma, the school’s principal, said the program is necessary to help students acquire technical and vocational education in addition to formal education.
“More donors focus on technical training as a way of empowering young people to eliminate the constant hiring of foreigners to carry out specific technical work in the presence of able Liberian youth,” he said. “The Voinjama Multilateral High School, which was offering these training years ago, has been called back to light with the appropriate equipment that encompasses TVET functionality.”
He thanked President Joseph Boakai for leading the advocacy to reopen the TVET program.
“Other finishing works are still ongoing within the dormitory section of the institution, and relative to the running of the TVET programs, students wanting to attend will have to pay some fees that are already stipulated in the institution information files,” Guluma noted.
Joseph Kabbah, an elder of the district and former representative who is also an alumnus of the school, officially launched the TVET program. He called on students to take advantage of the opportunity to achieve their dreams of becoming electricians or ICT professionals.
“I am excited to see the institution at this level with [an] improved and well-furbished facility to accommodate students wanting to have technical skills,” Kabbah added. “And being the launcher of this historic TVET program at the Voinjama Multilateral, with power vested in me as one of the oldest members of the institution, I hereby launch the TVET program in this institution.”
In remarks, Ibrahin Tejan, a proxy of Lofa’s Sen. Momo Cyrus, welcomed the program and said it would promote quality education in Lofa. He said Sen. Cyrus views the TVET program as a means to boost human capacity development and strengthen students’ capability in their future endeavors.
The education officer of Voinjama District, Mulbah Roberts, said the Voinjama Multilateral High School is now gearing towards a complete standardized institution. The inclusion of the TVET program means that students will be able to develop skills for the future.
“The sustainability of the TVET programs matters a lot now, and students should make potential and maximum use of it,” he said.
Accordingly, registration for the TVET programs began on May 10. Classes are expected to resume soon.
Featured photo by Kelvin Kollie
