More than 300 students on Wednesday graduated from a 6-month training at the Torit Vocational Centre in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria State.
The graduates include 211 males and 105 females trained in plumbing, electricity, construction, tailoring, auto-mechanics, computer, and carpentry.
This is the second batch of institutional training under the youth employment and empowerment through the private sector and value chain project funded by the Kingdom of Netherlands through the UN Development Programme.
The value chain expert of the WAP, a national organization implementing the project, Emmanuel Yengi says the graduates will receive a start-up kit for self-reliance.
“The graduates are going to be supported with start-up kits to initiate their businesses in their respective trade as it has been noted in their exhibit they have been registered per their trade so that they will be able to be employed, and engaged in constructing, electrification and so on. When they register their entities, they will be able to conduct their businesses in their locality,” he said.
He encouraged the graduates to remain united and support each other while in the field.
Lupo Paul, the director general for vocational training in Eastern Equatoria state urged the new graduates to use their knowledge to make a living and create jobs.
“There is a plan to have this vocational training changed to a formal technical school which we will need to have. Most of the graduates finished O-level and these are the people who can learn,” he said. “Don’t go and sit and say someone should come and help me do something. You have to start exercising your skills.”
In May his year, more than 400 students graduated from the institute.