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Sakulwenkosi Dube
SITUATED in Mangwe District, Avoca Vocational Training Centre is slowly deteriorating and losing its significance.
The training centre, which once had about 300 students and offered a variety of courses, has reduced its intake to only 52 students.The institution has cut down on the number of courses offered leaving students with a limited option of four courses.

It once served as a stepping stone for unemployed youths in Bulilima and Mangwe Districts who upon completing their training at the facility managed to earn a living.

A trainer at the institution, Benjamin Moyo, said it was now impossible to offer a wide range of courses given several constraints which were prevailing at the facility.

“It is quite impossible to run a proper training centre because there is no electricity and water is a problem. The facility was in the past offering courses such as catering and welding but because of electricity challenges they were phased out to leave only courses that do not require electricity.

“We now offer dressmaking where we use a limited number of hand machines, bricklaying and moulding, carpentry and animal husbandry,” said Moyo.

He said some of the existing courses were not even effective because of resource constraints.

“Under animal husbandry we are supposed to be training students to rear a wide variety of animals. At the moment some of the places where we keep animals are now empty and we are only left with pigs and ducks. The pigs are not doing well because the institution is struggling to feed them.

At times we spend the whole day without feeding them anything.

“In the other courses students on some occasions fail to have their lessons because of resource shortages. We have a small room that is used for dressmaking and only a few machines which the students rely on. This shows that even if our enrolment goes up the available resources cannot accommodate the students,” he said.

Moyo said most buildings at the training centre were now abandoned as they served no purpose.

“The institution is now comprised more of abandoned dormitory rooms and workshops. The buildings to cater for more students are there but we need assistance with resources. The institution is very big and it has the capacity to accommodate hundreds of students but at the moment it cannot.

“At the rate at which things are deteriorating the centre will end up closing down completely. Maintenance and upkeep of the training centre is poor. Some of the buildings are in a poor condition and they need renovation especially the hostels for students,” he said.

Moyo said close to the institution is a dam but the school was not equipped to pump the water into the reservoir which is connected to the training centre.

The vocational centre is supposed to cater for youths in Mangwe and Bulilima Districts as well Plumtree Town.

It was constructed for the purpose of creating employment opportunities for youths.

The poor state of the vocational centre now becomes a cause for concern given the high number of school drop outs and unemployed youths in the two districts.

A youth from Plumtree, Bolsheviks Ndlovu, said the vocational centre was essential for Bulilima and Mangwe youths as it could help address employment challenges among youths.

“The training centre is the only government run vocational training centre which youths can rely on but it is almost nonexistent. We need this vocational centre as youths from rural areas because a number of us are not employed.

“Some of my peers did not learn up to secondary education because of financial challenges. It also not all of the youths who are gifted academically as a result this training centre could change the lives of a number of youths who failed school and spend their time loitering around,” said Ndlovu.

He said it was his expectation to see the institution providing a number of examinable courses for the youths.

“The institution has been offering the courses they have for a while now without giving out any certificates to students. It is as though youths are being trained aimlessly and it’s like the training centre has turned into a useless institution.

“The vocational centre should be serving its purpose by training youths in several courses and then issuing them with certificates to show the credibility of the training they would have received,” he said.

“Youths should be able to get a livelihood by being self employed because of the training that they would get from that institution. Therefore it is important for the training centre to be revived until it is fully operational.

“If the Ministry of Youth cannot sustain the facility then it should engage other stakeholders and partners who can assist with necessary funds.”

The call for vocational centres to be revived comes at a time when the country has a high unemployment rate which calls for the need to have more youths who are self employed.

“Every year we have records of tertiary institutions that are releasing graduates. On the other hand we rarely have a record of voc techs that channel out numbers of trained students just because they are not fully operational.

“We need the same effectiveness that you find in tertiary institutions within vocational training centres as well. Colleges are releasing graduates who are struggling to get employment at least vocational centres can release graduates who can create employment,” said Ndlovu.

The Senior Minister of State, Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo, recently pointed out that vocational training centres were key in addressing unemployment challenges among rural youths. He urged various stakeholders to revive these institutions which are dotted around the country.

He said vocational centres were equally important as academic institutions and even better as they could produce an independent youth and not a dependant one.

The National House of Assembly Member for Bulilima West, Lungisani Nleya said indications were that the training centre was not serving its purpose.

“The purpose of this centre is to train local youths so that we have reduced cases of school dropouts who travel to neighbouring countries without having any direction. However this is not happening.

“We cannot afford to have a training centre as big as this one having only 50 students. The structures and equipment are there we just need an administration body that will take this project seriously,” he said.

Nleya added: “From what I gather here it appears the recruitment process here is very poor because the administration does not notify people on time when they have intakes. As a result few students turn up for intakes.”