GOVERNMENT has plans to spend close to $40 million in reviving 42 vocational training centres (VTCs) for youth skills training and entrepreneurship development, a Cabinet minister has said.
Tarisai Mandizha
VTCs were mainly established on the premise that skills development programmes were an important factor in improving employment creation opportunities.
Speaking at the green microfinance workshop in Harare, Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment minister Francis Nhema said going green in microfinance involved the youth in terms of skills training so that they would be able to empower themselves.
He said stakeholders should consider training those who do not have the necessary skills.
“Government is now looking back at the 42 VTCs that are all over the country to equip them. We want to make sure they are up to standard and they offer the same courses,” Nhema said.
“So that in every region and every district those youths are put in categories of what there are able to do.”
Nhema said there were close to 300 000 school leavers being churned out yearly and government had to look after them.
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“We have been negotiating with the stakeholders and we are happy that so far they have now put it on a draft and hopefully beginning next year we will have one or two more vocational centres running,” Nhema said.
He, however, said the revival of the 42 centres would cost not less than $1 million for each, but would be implemented in phases.
“The first phase will just make sure there are classrooms. The second phase is to deal with equipment itself which is necessary for vocational training and the third phase will be looking at accommodating them so that at least those VTCs are up to standard like others around the world,” he Nhema.
