Story by Providence Maraneli
MATABELELAND South held its inaugural combined Vocational Training Centres (VTC) Graduation Ceremony at Phangani in Filabusi this Friday, where over 900 students graduated in various fields.
With the Second Republic on a drive to empower youths through skills and other programmes, there is consensus among youths who graduated from VTCs dotted around Matabeleland South this Friday that vocational training bridges the skills gap that exist between the academically gifted and those good in practical subjects.
Among the graduates was Chief Ndube of Insiza who is leading a group of women on a drive to empower communities.
“As a Chief, I thought I should lead from the front so that my community gets inspired,” he said.
“ I was doing brick laying and what was unique about it was that as a woman, it is not usually possible to he a builder, but i want to break the barriers,” said a graduate.
The inaugural graduation ceremony saw all the five VTCs in the province contribute a total of 963 graduands.
“The graduands you see here have successfully completed their vocational skills training through the training for enterprise model in various disciplines,” noted VTC Principal, Mr Hilton Moyo Phangani .
“As we strive towards an upper middle income society by 2030, we are motivated by the work being done by the VTCs in imparting in youths to participate in the economic turn around ,” Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training Provincial Deputy Director, Mrs Mavhonani Muleya.
The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training is on a drive to implement the strategic framework for the transformation of the VTCs training system to suit modern trends.
The 963 graduates comprise 415 males and 548 females.
