Sierra Leone News: Communication platform for Technical Vocational Education

A communication platform for technical vocational education training is underway aimed at increasing the availability of updated data about vocational education by providing a digital media platform.
The establishment of communication platform through a website will provide adequate data on TVET and related information to support the work and coordination of TVET Activities.
The platform will provide adequate information about technical education in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, governmental agencies, training providers (TVCs, TVIs, TTIs) and institutions on central and local level, donors and the private sector.
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is a challenge in all African countries.
In most countries the enrolment rate in formal TVET at secondary level is 5 percent or less.
Non-formal TVET is predominant and often highly fragmented. Learning opportunities at the workplace, non-formal learning, private provision, and initiatives under various non-education sector ministries all tend to operate in a non-coherent way.
Governments and international institutions are paying increasing attention to TVET (it is one of eight priority areas in the African Union’s Second Decade of Education (2006-2015).
But despite an increase in the number of African students in TVET, only a few governments in Africa are able to finance TVET at a level that can support quality training.
The demand is enormous. Three out of five unemployed in sub-Saharan Africa are young people, mostly surviving in the informal economy.
The project is part of the 11th European Development Fund national indicative Programme for Sierra Leone with specific Objectives to strengthening education system management to support better teaching and learning.
Dr. Siegfried Berg, Project Manager, while addressing multi stakeholders in the education sector at GIZ office, Aberdeen Road in Freetown said improving the quality of teaching and learning with equitable access to secondary education is key to development.
He said the project also aims to carry out a diagnostic study of TVET in Sierra Leone to provide the basis for the development of a legal and institutional framework for TVET and a multi-sector coordinating structure.
The project he added will focus on development and implementation of a Skills Certification System for TVET graduates, In-service Teacher Training including curriculum development for master trainers.
Ali Mohamed Technical Advisor of the project said the establishment of a Communication Platform (website) will be to provide and make adequate data on TVET and related information accessible and to strengthen the communication among TVET Stakeholders.
The project is jointly funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union represented by the European Commission implemented by GIZ Sierra Leone in partnership with National Council for Technical Vocational and Other Academic Awards (NCTVA through PPP Fund for Mano River Union countries.
The Administrative officer National Council for Technical Vocational and Other Academic Awards (NCTVA said the communication platform will help student online registration, online result checking by student and potential employers
He said they have already established an information Technology unit at NCTVA with a website but they need to improve on it to contain general information on TVET (Relevant Acts/Policies, updated reports NCTVA Newsletter, NCTVA Schedule of Events (Timetable) amongst others.
SB/1/3/18
By Saidu Bah
Friday March 02, 2018.