By Yero S. Bah
Technical and Vocational Education and Training, in short TVET, is education and training which provides knowledge and skills for employment in a country.
These institutions are vitally important for the promotion of the tertiary education, and acquisition of youth life skills and knowledge in the Gambia; but the coronavirus outbreak had seen the consistent closure of the country’s TVET centers for about six months now.
Secretary General (SG) of the National Association of Vocational and Skills Training Institutes (NAVSTI), Mr. Muhammed Fofana, recalled the Association was established in 2001 to serve as an umbrella body for the TVET centers in the Gambia, noting their objectives are to strengthen capacity, contribute to human resource development through coordination of efforts, advocacy of pertinent issues, gender equality, provision of vocational skills and technical knowledge acquisitions. But he was quick to mention that these noble objectives have been threatened by the outbreak of coronavirus and the subsequent lockdowns of the centers due to the global pandemic.
The Executive Committee of TVET Centers on Tuesday September 22, 2020 at Lasting Solutions on Kairaba Avenue, laid bare the difficulties these vital training institutions are facing in this Coronavirus Disease (Covid) era.
Speaking at the gathering, SG Fofona admitted that the pandemic has presented some dire situations for the TVET institutions as they continue to scavenge for survival, for the past six months of the pandemic, lamenting government’s failure to come to their aid.
According to him, the government of the Gambia never came to communicate or recognize the need to offer financial support to these vital private skills centers who are complementing government’s efforts in equipping the youth folks with skills education and training.
“We felt discriminated against our public partners,” he pointedly stressed. Fofana told the media that, the TVET institutions depend on tuition fees for their survival as they use it to cover operational cost and other overhead bills as well as paying of salaries to staff members.
“TVET centers are dying; the only thing we are not praying for is a befitting burial,” the NAVSTI SG bemoaned.
Chairman Abdoulie Sowe indicated that the association organized the press conference to express their frustrations to the government through their line Ministry, which is Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, otherwise MoHERST, and National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority (NAQAA) position on their current predicaments.
Sowe alleged that they had been left out and discriminated by the very people who should have supported them, as he reminded that, all TVET centers were urged to close activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic and they immediately closed all activities. He added that whilst all other business activities were later allowed to resume, TVET centers were not, charging “government should have opened these centers as they deal with matured students”. These institutions provide training to over 60% of the youth who serve in almost all workplaces in the Gambia, argued Chairman Sowe. He divulged that the closure of these centers had significant negative impacts on the lecturers, students, and the entire economy of the country as it affects everyone; reasoning that throughout this period, their centers never generated any revenues to survive.
The NAVSTI senior official further lamented that government only provided bail out packages to public institutions whilst private centers were left out, and this is forcing some of these institutions to either layoff staff, pay half salaries or are even on the verge of closing for good, because they could no longer curb with such dire financial situations. “We all are struggling to maintain operational bills,” he stated.
Still on their problems, Sowe informed that some institutions that are renting were even given eviction notices, as he cautioned that students sitting at home is a contribution to youth delinquency in society, and “the State isn’t doing anything to support these centers” which are struggling to pay salaries.
He said they have written to various key stakeholders such as their line ministry three months into the lockdown, development partners, NAQQA and all other relevant stakeholders but to no avail. Again, he intimated that they felt neglected as the state failed to render financial support to the TVET centers in these most crucial times of uncertainty.
“Practical learning makes it difficult for such institutions to apply online learning in this pandemic as well as lack of electricity and others”, he asserted.
The Chairman used the opportunity to call on the Barrow-led government to provide immediate financial support to all TVET Centers, to cover operational costs, rental fees, salaries and other expenses for the six months lockdown period. He, however, made it clear that they are “not asking for loss of revenues” since the pandemic is global and it affected every sector.
