NDE to train secondary school students vocational skills

Senior secondary school students will now have the opportunity to be trained during their long vacation in vocational skills, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has said. The Acting Director General of the NDE, Kunle Obayan, while speaking in Abuja, explained that the directorate would also establish ‘job corps’ to provide the manpower for the […]

Senior secondary school students will now have the opportunity to be trained during their long vacation in vocational skills, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has said.
The Acting Director General of the NDE, Kunle Obayan, while speaking in Abuja, explained that the directorate would also establish ‘job corps’ to provide the manpower for the infrastructural development initiative of the federal government.
He explained that the NDE was embarking on the out-of-school-to-work initiative to tackle unemployment at the grassroots, noting that joblessness begins at the secondary school level.
He said: “The NDE would soon roll out school-to-work programme for students in senior secondary schools two and three. We have come to know that unemployment starts from that level and our plan  is to do more work on the junior secondary students.
“The plan is to involve them in some productive ventures when they are not in school, especially during the long vacation. They would go for training in our training centres instead of staying at home and idling away.”
Obayan said the directorate would give the students some stipends to enable them participate in the training.
“We would profile them to determine the skill set that is good for them. By the time they are in SS3 and possibly waiting for their results, the NDE would then attach them to firms for that period. By the time they finish the attachment programme, they would be ready to do something instead of roaming the streets,” he said.
He said the programme was due to begin in the 2016 summer, during the long vacation.
The NDE boss explained that the  ‘job corps’ entailed refreshing people that had been trained before but were not resettled in construction skills.
“When re-trained in construction work, we would get them ready and post them on our website for possible work. But even before that, we would facilitate work opportunities between them and construction companies,”  he added.
He said the ‘job corps,’ was aimed at formalising artisans’ jobs and making them organised to be  actively engaged in construction works.
He said: “Most Nigerians are afraid to go and fetch workers under the trees because they cannot vouch for their characters. But under this platform, every artisan would be known and his fixed address also known. With that, they would be treated like professionals under the NDE.”