The minister of general education in Eastern Equatoria State, Lopeyok Sammy Aperengole, on Monday made an impromptu visit to Torit Technical and Vocational Training Center to assess the institution and find ways to improve its productivity.
The newly appointed education minister said the center was opened to benefit the population and not to be kept idle.
“We opened the center so that our people can benefit. So we are going to arrange for the teachers to come and benefit from this center. Not only Torit alone but all the eight counties in Eastern Equatoria,” Minister Lopeyok said. “We have to select them to come and get knowledge. We also have an agriculture department here so the ministry of agriculture will also benefit from this center.”
“We have been looking for these things but we have found them here so we are just going to select teachers to come and train here. This center is going to benefit our people from even the remote areas. The teachers who have been trained here will go to the ground and train the rest,” he added.
Lupo Paul, the director of Torit Technical Vocational Training Center, said the facility has so far graduated 160 students since reopening in 2016 and is currently waiting to graduate the fifth lot with 360 students in different fields.
He urged the government to enroll more teachers to keep the center busy to train the many redundant youths.
“We have seven teachers employed by the government and 18 other teachers are part-timers and volunteers and we shall need more teachers because, for all these departments, we shall need about 8 of them for the time being,” Director Lupo said. “I am glad that the school is well equipped and we were training short vocational courses. We plan to upgrade this school so that we train more students who can then train others.”
Lupo appealed to the minister to fill the positions of instructors for the electronic workshop and computer laboratory among other vacant positions.
For his part, Odomtulla Hillary Okumu, the director for basic and secondary education in the state, urged the new minister to push for the reopening of Torit Technical Secondary School which was closed during the liberation struggle.
“I am asking the minister if the technical secondary school could also be returned because it is this technical school that was taken to juba due to insecurity here,” Odomtulla requested.
He said the technical secondary school will help graduate many masons, electricians, carpenters, etc. so that they become self-reliant.
The director-general at the state ministry of education, Gabriel Oliha, said his department is planning to recruit five instructors to support the existing tutors at the center and fill the existing gaps.
“The government is now trying to get 5 teachers for biology, chemistry, physics, agriculture and the rest of the things and these 5 teachers will be taken to Juba for training so that they come and impart the knowledge here,” Oliha said.
He said the center trains people who easily go into self-employment in various fields like tailoring, bricklaying, and others which is very important, and urged the youth to acquire practical skills.
Torit Technical was a renowned technical secondary school in the 1960s but was affected by and closed during the years of upheaval and war. It was then reopened in 2016 as a vocational school and has graduated 4 batches since.
The center boasts of several departments including building, carpentry, tailoring, electricals, agriculture, computers, and mechanical.