20 Mar 2016

Fifteen commercially trained pilots to ever come out of Botswana are set to benefit from the Target 20 000 programme and will be attached to an operator in the delta to build up flying hours and gain experience and in the process become more globally competitive.

The Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Unity Dow said this when she officially opened the International Aviation Solutions-Aviation Academy in Gaborone, and officiated at the school’s first graduation ceremony.

Dr Dow said the next generation of aviation professionals comprises of 15 commercial pilot’s license holders, among them the first female commercial pilot trained in Botswana.

She emphasised the need to build bridges between training institutions and the industry for seamless transition.

Dr Dow said the reason why such a milestone had been possible was that the government has created three policies that made the economic and political climate conducive for such.
“The Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) policy, the Botswana Excellence Strategy for Economic Diversification and Sustainable Growth and the policy that informed the creation of the Botswana Innovation Hub,” she said.

She said the presence of IAS Aviation Academy was a demonstration of several of the policies at work and the right step in the actualisation of some of these key components of actualising and implementing the policies’ objectives.
She said towards the end of 2000s, the government took the decision to reduce the number of students sent outside Botswana for further studies.

“Training locally reduced costs, making it possible for more students to have access to tertiary and professional institutions,” said the minister, adding that the growth of private colleges and universities in particular has been phenomenal from 2007 to date, and that by 2013 private colleges and universities constituted 38.5 per cent of the sector whilst public institutions constituted 61.5 per cent.

Speaking on the job environment of pilots, Dr Dow said currently there were 13 organisations employing pilots with a total of 174 pilots, 66 of whom were Batswana.

“Air Botswana employs 51 pilots, 44 of which are Batswana. ISA is not only a trainer of pilots, it also employs 11 pilots, five of which are Batswana,” she said.

“I have also been reliably informed that many of the young pilots that are employed with some of the operators in the delta are on a rapid experience gaining exercise as they gain flying hours they would need to break into the international aviation arena,” she said, also adding that professional growth was linked to hours flown.

Dr Dow said she was pleased that the Aviation Academy was not only training young people in this internationally prestigious profession, but was also youth led.

“The founder and entrepreneur of this institution is himself under 35 years, leading an entire staff complement of 55, only five of whom are over the age of 35 and this is indeed commendable and evidence yet again that government policies of youth empowerment are bearing real fruit,” she said.

For his part, the founder of IAS-Aviation Academy, Mr Teezzarh Seduke said the institution opened its doors to train in a new and unchartered territory in October 2013 with just three aircrafts, and that to date they boost of 16 aircrafts and that the institution has also been able to achieve associate membership to International Aviation Training Standards in March 2016.

He said the inaugural graduating class of aviators which comprises of 15 commercially licensed pilots were colleagues to 91 trainee pilots who were at various stages of the competency based training.

“It takes between 18 and 30 months to train a commercial pilot and the three stages of training are Private Pilot License (PPL), Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and Instructors Rating (IR),” he said.

Mr Seduke said he faced a lot of challenges of which the biggest was Batswana not trusting and believing that another Motswana can make it happen.

“The aviation industry is highly regulated and I am thankful for the people that were with me every step, helping me with the necessary expertise,” he said. He said he would continue advocating for the employability of his graduates in the region and internationally.

Former Air Botswana pilot, Captain Hastings Mulenga urged the graduates to exercise discipline at all times.

“This is a very demanding career and it can be a very short career if you do not take care of yourselves. Persevere and maintain discipline because it requires experience to go further and for you to get that experience, you have to be focused and the hard work will eventually pay off,” he said.

He said graduates may work without pay just to get a few flying hours under their belts.

“I have been flying for a little over 36 years, and now I am going to start my new journey in India after my contract with Air Botswana expired last year December. I was with Air Botswana for 10 years having lived here for 15 years,” he said. Ends