Malawi community colleges concept launched: Mutharika calls for private sector support

Malawi President Peter Mutharika on Friday officially launched Community Technical Colleges concept which he said will address employment issues as it is one of his dreams to provide skills training and development to the youth in the rural areas.

Already, International Labour Organisation said it plans to use Malawi as a model in Africa for the estbalishment and implementation of community colleges.

In his speech on Friday at the launching ceremony which took place at Ngala Community College in northern district of Karonga, Mutharika said the establishment of the Community Technical Colleges program t is a call to all Malawians to change their mindset and recognize that “it is not only white collar jobs that will develop our country.”

He said: “ Technical and vocational jobs are an important means of development and self sufficiency because they provide and achieve a turnaround in poverty indicators, if our people, especially the youth, are given Technical, Entrepreneurialship and Vocational Training.”

Mutharika said c ountries such as German, India, China, Japan, England, U.S.A and others have become major industrial powers because they have emphasized skills development as a priority.

“This is why such countries are well known for advanced technologies and production of high quality goods,” he noted/

The President appealed to the private sector to support the program for the trainings being provided to relevant to the needs of the industry in the country.

According to Mutharika, the colleges will not only provide formal training for those with Malawi Schools Certificate of Education (MSCE) but also informal training for school dropouts.

“At present these colleges can accommodate less than 2,000 students. Seeing this large number of young men and women entering the labour market without any skill is a matter of great concern for me,” said Mutharika.

He explained that the skills and training taught at Community Technical Colleges “ are designed to be the ones that are in demand in the employment market especially in the communities in which they are located, thereby guaranteeing employability.”

The Malawi leader said, with a Community Technical Colleges in every district, the labour and business outlook of the communities will be transformed.

“Ngara Community Technical College belongs to the people of Karonga. It is here to assist and benefit the people of this district. The DPP manifesto emphasizes skills development for employment creation as a major economic agenda of my administration,” he claimed.

Minister of Labour and Manpower Development Henry Musa said the college initiative is one way of complementing the millennium development goal of reducing poverty as it will empower the youths to be self employed.

“As a ministry we will make sure that these colleges meet the international standards of colleges so that those who graduate should be able to work within and outside the country,” said Mussa.

In his remarks, Paramount Chief Kyungu commended the government saying “if this initiative started a long time ago Malawi could have developed and also our youths could not have been abused to be used as political campaign tool.”

He then urged politicians to work hand in hand saying “time for politicking is gone what is remaining is for all parties to work together in developing the country.”

According to the Ministry of labour report, government has invested 400 million Malawi Kwacha in the construction of the 11 colleges which are in Dedza, Karonga, Nkhotakota and Mzimba where each student is supposed to pay K3,000 as school fees while the colleges will be run by the community.