Speaking recently at Tropha Estates Limited in Mzimba, the TEVET Authority Executive Director,. Elwin Sichiola said companies and organisations play a very important role in apprenticeship training.
“The TEVET system follows the Competence Based Education Training (CBET) methodology where the emphasis is on mastery of stipulated competences and ability to demonstrate the same. To attain these competences the student must undergo institutional and industry-based modules. This is where we require your support to attachment places to enable apprentices to acquire industrial experience,” said Mr Sichiola.
He said for this to materialize there is a need for proper collaboration between the industry and the TEVET sector.
The Authority facilitates the attachment of apprentices to provide industrial exposure to apprentices for effective mastery and demonstration of competences. Every year TEVET plans to attach about 4000 apprentices to various companies and organisations.
“Apart from contributing a lot of apprenticeship training, you are also the ones who pay levy which enables us to implement various programmes. Please advise us if there are gaps in skills development,” said the Executive Director.
In his remarks, Tropha Estates Limited Managing Director, Duncan MacDavid said there is a need to understand the competencies of the apprentices before offering them attachment places.
“On our side, we have a checklist for assessing the competencies of these apprentices,” he said.
The Executive Director has in recent months been conducting door-to-door visits to various companies as a way of enhancing collaboration between the Authority and its stakeholders.
Said Mr Sichiola: “I wanted to introduce myself to the companies; thank them for offering support through the attachment of apprentices and payment of levy while at the same time update them on the current developments in the TEVET sector.”
The ED also briefed the companies about the yet-to-be-introduced dual training programme to improve training delivery.
On the other hand, the ED said the trips accorded him an opportunity to get some feedback on how the stakeholders felt about service delivery.
Mr Sichiola also urged companies to spare some time to visit some technical colleges so that they can appreciate what their levy is doing.
The door-to-door visits have been lauded by various stakeholders saying they help in enhancing the relationship between TEVET Authority and its stakeholders.
MASM, Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sydney Chikoti said the ED’s visit to his institution helped enlighten him and his management on how levy is contributing towards skills development.
“We are also glad to hear that you are implementing the Productivity Enhancement Programme which aims at addressing some skills gaps at the workplace. We will get in touch with you to understand more about the programme and see how best our staff can benefit from it,” Mr Chikoti said.
In his remarks Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company Head of Human Resources, Andy Chawani said such visits create room for better collaboration. He urged the TEVET Authority to work towards improving the quality of graduates.
The door-to-door visits have seen the TEVET Authority Executive Director meet Chief Executive Officers or their representatives in 13 companies which included MASM, ECAM, ESCOM, Trailer Manufacturing and Gestetner in Blantyre; Zipatso Construction Company in Zomba and Naming’omba Tea Estate in Thyolo in the South. In Central, he visited Limbe Leaf and Airtel Malawi in Lilongwe while in the North he visited Tropha Tea Estates Limited and Kwithu Kitchen in Mzuzu and Consolidated Processing Industry (CIP) in Mzimba.
