16 Mar 2016

Following the advertisement of bridging courses through both private and tertiary institutions in November 2015 by the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, 14 869 applications were received by the Target 20 000 project office for different bridging programmes.

Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mr Fidelis Molao said the objective of the project was to prepare the unemployed youth for industry participation through skills development, and that the programmes were tailor made to address skills gaps and enhance their employability.

He said to date, 10 522 applications have been processed and sponsorship letters produced and that the students were enrolled under different training providers and that training has commenced.

Mr Molao also said he was aware that some students, not all, might have suffered emotional and/or financial inconvenience due to the fact that some training institutions went beyond their given quotas and created unnecessary confusion.

He said training institutions were given quotas in advance at a duly convened consultative meeting on November 2015 before the commencement of the project, and that they were expected to stick to their quotas. Mr Molao said the ministry has written letters to the concerned institutions emphasising the need to comply to set processes and procedures.

The Member of Parliament for Gaborone North, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa had asked the assistant minister why government, through private tertiary institutions, recently advertised for students to apply for bridging courses. Mr Nkaigwa wanted to know what happened to such courses and if the assistant minister was aware that despite students receiving admission letters from such institutions they were not yet enrolled.

He also wanted to know when they should expect the sponsorship for them to enroll as promised, and if the delay to sponsor the students does not constitute a breach of promise. He also asked Mr Molao if he was aware that students have suffered both emotionally and financially due to the exercise as some of them left their jobs on receipt of admission letters. Ends