The German Government through GIZ and the European Union has broken ground for the construction of a US$10 million TVET Center, the Gateway Vocational Training Center (GVTC) in Bentol the capital of Montserrado County.
The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at the city center in Bentol, Montserrado County to ensure Liberian youth have access to marketable skills that will allow them to work in other industries.
Making a remark at the groundbreaking ceremony, Montserrado Superintendent Florence Brandy described the day as a day of history-making in Bentol. She extended her thanks to the Gateway Vocational Training Center (GVTC) for the “huge project.”
According to her, as leader of Montserrado County, she dreams that one-day development will come to Bentol.
To this end, she said authorities have decided to keep giving out land to NGOs to help them in developing Bentol.
She thanked the international community for the groundbreaking and expressed hope that those organizations who receive land and are doing nothing to develop it will follow suit so that the place can get a new life.
“Though the building will be led by the partner for the first three years, but after three years elapsed, it will be turned over to Liberian to run it.”
She reveals that the training center will be something that will be affordable, and it will give the necessary technical knowledge to those who will express interest.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
However, she reveals that they are willing and ready to give land to any organization wanting to develop or bring a program to that part of the county.
“We have given land to other organizations for five to six years and those organizations have never one day developed the land,” she noted.
For her part, Madam Jocelia Taplah, Chair of Gateway Vocational Training Center expressed her gratitude on behalf of the board of the Center.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Assistant Minister, Science, Technology, Vocational and Special Education Saku Dukuly said that the ministry along with youth and sports partners have been working hard to develop the TVET sector of the country.
He added that the task force on TVET has drifted and revised a TVET policy and develop a national TVET Qualification policy which will make it easy for those offering TVET training in Liberia.
He noted that this new policy set out qualifications to contribute greatly to common standards in the vocational sector of Liberia.
He announced that the GVTC is not only already fully accredited by the Ministry of Education as a TVET provider but is also the first TVET provider in the country whose curriculum has been developed in line with the new TVET qualification firm work.
He also says it is the first TVET school that has been permitted by the Ministry to issue certification in line with their fireworks.
He expressed hope that all other TVET providers in the country especially profit-oriented to follow suit in line with the firm work that has been drifted.
Meanwhile, GIZ, EU, and the Private Sector Association of Liberia Tuesday formally inducted members of the Board of Directors of the GVTC to manage the affairs of the Center as well as recruit staff.
When erected, the GVTC will be placed under the leadership of the Private Sector Associations of Liberia, which include the Association of Liberian Construction Contractors (ALCC), Engineering Society of Liberia (ESOL), and the Liberian Institute of Architects (LIA) with a steering committee headed by government’s TVET sector agencies and other international partners.
