The Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Booker Washington Institute, (BWI) Jackson J. Paye has advanced recommendations for youths empowerment in the country.
He said the young people need labor market demand skills for their sustainability, noting that that the population of Liberia is comprised of a significant number of young people.
The BWI Board chairperson observed that Technical Vocational Training (TVET) is cardinal for their full participation in the development process of the country.
Mr. Paye made the statement when he delivered the keynote address at program making the 93rd Founder’s Day Celebration of BWI in Kakata, Margibi County recently.
He however advanced the following some recommendations to the administration which he believe could enhance the empowerment of the youthful population.
The keynote speaker recommended that for the young people of Liberia to make positive contributions to the economy of Liberia, they must be provided the needed skills and that support to TVET programs must be a national priority of the Government of Liberia and development partners.
He noted that value must be added to the learning process in line with the 21st Century realities, and marketing as well as business skills should be incorporated into the learning process.
Mr. Paye observed that the provision contemporary vocational trainings such as agriculture, carpentry, masonry, electricity, machinery, baking, tailoring and other technical skills are the recipe for empowering the young people. He spoke on the theme, “Enhancing TVET to align with 21st Century skills acquisition for Youths Employability,”
The BWI board chair observed that quick impact projects like motor bikes and kehkeh riding and other petty trades are only short term projects with no sustainable impacts on the livelihoods of the young people.
The keynote speaker bragged that BWI has been in the vanguard for many decades for producing some of Liberia’s finest agriculturists, engineers, including architects, scientists among other middle level technicians.
Mr. Paye, who is also an alumnus of the institution asserted that TVET Education is one of the surest ways of improving the lives of people.
He told his audience that the technical knowledge that they, graduates of the school, acquired have enabled some of them to work for some renowned companies like the former Bong Mining Company (BMC), Liberia American Mining Company (LAMCO) including Firestone, B.F. Goodrige while others are still rendering services in the country and in the diaspora.
The veteran civil engineer and architectural drafting professional disclosed that he has donated 50 acres of land in the Township of Graie, Tapita District, and Lower Nimba County purposely for the construction of a vocational training center.
“The first trade that will be taught is agriculture. General Building Trade and other courses will be added among other courses,” he explained. He further stated that when the school is opened, it will provide the platform for young people in Nimba County including adjacent counties or even neighboring countries to acquire TVET Education and that it will be run by a foundation. “We will seek partnership with BWI along with similar vocational institution that is being run by the Ministry of Youth & Sports. It will be an ideal location for training. Development partners who will be interested in getting at-risk youths of the streets could also use the center,” he informed the audience.
Meanwhile, Atty Harris Fomba Tarnue said as their alma mater accelerates towards its centenary, they continue to sustain the legacy of the school by the excellence being created by the graduates in the country and also in the diaspora since its establishment.
He asserted that they are on the unbending path of championing the workforce development training of the nation’s youths stating that as BWI marks 93rd anniversary, his administration remain passionate and committed to moving BWI far beyond prewar status to a 21st Century State-of-the-Art training institution.
The principal pointed out that the year 2022 is witnessing what he calls an unprecedented transformation of BWI in terms of human capacity building of its youthful instructional staffs as well as the modernization of most of the technical workshops.
“With the European Union and the Swedish Government’s funding, the government is set to commission Liberia’s first TVET Teacher’s Training Center for Research and Innovation at BWI. These interventions are geared towards making BWI Liberia’s Model Center of Excellence in academia and TVET,” the EO confidently averred.
Mr. Tarnue however assured the public that by the end of 2022, the school will boast of being Liberia’s number one top notch and most sophisticated public TVET Institution equipped for delivering engineering and other related education and trainings and as such he urged the youths to take advantage of the modern technical skills that they offering at BWI.
He admitted that these initiatives require higher investment therefore he appealed to national government, friends of Liberia both bilateral as well as multilateral including international development partners to continue supporting efforts aimed at strengthening the TVET sector through increased financial and technical assistances.
“I am grateful for the level of support already coming from the EU, Swedish Government; French, Japanese Governments; German, Chinese Governments; the GIZ, UN agencies. In the same vein, I am also delighted to applaud the government, the alumni community here and abroad as they continue to rally support for our Alma mater,” he said.
