TIRI MASAWI
Some Technical Vocational Education and Training (ProTVET) students are struggling to break into Namibia’s emerging green hydrogen sector.
The ProTVET programme, implemented with financial and technical support from GIZ, is aimed at strengthening vocational training systems and aligning them with industry needs.
Instead of working in their trained fields, some students are deployed to unrelated tasks during internships.
“Some of the challenges we see on the ground are that some students who are on work related industrial learning are not being trained in the actual field they are being trained in. Some are in instances working as cleaners because of a lack of a follow up and follow through mechanism from the vocational training centres,” said Professor Zivayi Chiguvare, head of the Green Hydrogen Institute at the University of Namibia.
The concerns were raised during a panel discussion hosted by GIZ at the Namibia–EU Business Forum last week. The session examined skills gaps in green hydrogen and renewable energy.
The graduates are trained as electricians, welders, boiler makers and other technical trades meant to position them for jobs in the planned green hydrogen economy. The sector promises to create about 30 000 jobs across its value chain.
But experts say weak monitoring systems between vocational training centres and host institutions are undermining industrial learning.
The forum brought together TVET experts such as Sybil Ferris, Professor Chiguvare, and Professor Samuel John, head of Mechanical Engineering and dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.
They warned that many vocational training centres lack structured monitoring systems to track students during internships and apprenticeships.
“There are no proper structures and processes to make sure that the vocational institutions can follow up and monitor progress being made by the graduates while they are on internships and work related learning,” Chiguvare said.
Chiguvare called for urgent reforms in training capacity.
“It is common knowledge that if someone is to train for example a level three vocational graduate they must have a higher qualification. This is the challenge that we saw when we visited most of the vocational training centres.”
He added that a “train-the-trainer” programme is needed to improve skills delivery.
Professor John said despite the challenges, cooperation between industry and training institutions is improving.
“I was particularly impressed to see that despite the challenges that are faced by the vocational training institutions, there is a push to work together between the industry and the institutions,” he said.
Former Namibia Training Authority CEO Jerry Beukes said the system can still be fixed.
“We need to focus on the future and find ways of improving as well as dealing with all these challenges,” he said. “The important thing is that work towards this is happening and we need to continue. The time to improve is now.”
Questions sent to the Ministry of Education Innovation Youth Sport Arts and Culture last week were not answered.
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