31 Mar 2015

Director of Quality Assurance at the Botswana Qualifications Authority, Ms Selebo Jobe, says for the past years, the Botswana Defence Force has been investing heavily in educating its members, especially in the areas of vocational and technical education training.

Giving a keynote address at the graduation ceremony of the BDF Air Arm Command Technical Training School on March 27, Ms Jobe also appreciated the effort by the Technical Training School (TTS) to customise its training to suit the students’ needs.

Ms Jobe also appreciated the Namibian Defence Force as well as the Botswana Police for sending their officers to train with the BDF, which she said indicates the spirit of bilateral cooperation and inter-agency resource training.

She also encouraged the graduates to take the skills they acquired seriously. “You have learnt how to gather facts and evaluate information, how to think on your feet and find solutions to unexpected challenges. Most importantly, how to be a better human being.  The success of our economy will depend on your skills,” she said.

For his part, TTS Commandant, Lt. Col. Job Sejoe said the mission of the training was to impart the necessary knowledge, skills, ability and attitude to members of the army so as to efficiently and effectively maintain the defence air assets.

“This means that we train personnel for the current aviation maintenance jobs and develop them for future jobs. We are mindful of the fact that the quality of our graduates has a direct impact on the aviation safety and maintenance standards,” he said.

Lt. Col. Sejoe said as an institution, they recognise that as technology advances, there was also a need to upgrade their training aids to be able to comply with such changes.

He said the completion of the currently ongoing upgrade of the TTS by the International Training Support (ITS) team would allow the TTS to start diploma and related Degree qualifications such as BSc Degree in Aeronautical Science in future.

He also encouraged the graduates to have a good plan for their lives and families, passion as well as good interpersonal relationship with other people. A total of 91 students graduated in four different fields, being avionics technicians, radar communications technicians, armament, GSE and safety technicians as well as airframe and power plant technicians.. ENDS