Women Affairs Minister seeks partnership with education counterpart on skills acquisition, vocational training

With a desperate sustained drive to expose school children to skills acquisition and vocational training, the Honorable Minister of Women Affairs, Barr Uju Kennedy Ohanenye has said the Ministry have perfected plan to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Education to skip Friday as to expose school children to vocational learning and skill acquisition.

The Women Minister was speaking during a fact-finding visit to the Government Science and Technical College Abuja, Barr Uju recalled that ‘in the past, special days were set aside to impart school children with vocational skills which helped to situate them in their areas of specialization. For us in the Women Affairs Ministry, we desire to bring back those days through partnership with the Education Ministry because vocational training will not only build our youths to be independent but also create employment for our teeming youths. It is in line with the Renewed Hope agenda of Mr President to restore Nigeria to a productive nation’ she added.

Part of the Ministry’s plans include upgrading the garment factory at the Mariam Babangida National Center for Women Development Abuja before the end of October, 2023.

The Minister stated that she was at the school to personally assess the facilities at the Garment, Electrical, Furniture, the Computer Crafts Studies and Motor Vehicle Mechanics Sections, to appraise the various sections and identify areas of collaboration with the school management in line with her Ministry’s vision to introduce vocational and skills acquisition training among school children.

According to her “It has been my desire to harness the potentials of our children and youths to build their consciousness towards productivity and self- reliance when they grow uo adding that she is already engaging the Honorable Minister of Education to introduce Vocational training in schools to equip the students with digital skills, tailoring, electrical and mechanics” she said.

She also expressed her delight with the structures in place at the school which her Ministry will leverage to drive the project of harnessing the potentials of the Nigerian children and youths adding that actively engaged youths stay away from criminality and other juvenile delinquencies.

She also pledged that the Government Technical College will be integrated into the plans of upgrading the Women Development Centre to enable the students align with her plans to have a veritable machinery for effective skills acquisition Centre in the FCT.

Responding, the Principal of the school, Mr. James Musa Kuta commended the Minister for the laudable initiative which will go a long way to rebuild the consciousness of Nigerian children and the youths to be productive and contribute their quota to national growth.

‘The students have been able to manufacture tables, chairs and also carry out electrical wirings through their vocational training’ he said.