Teveta wants more women in technical jobs

The Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority (Teveta) says there is need for more females to take up technical education to reduce the resource gap of women in technical jobs.

The institution has since set up a 60 percent recruitment rate for females against 40 percent for males in its Vocational Skill Training Project for Vulnerable Young People (VSTP VYP) it is implementing across the country with funding from the National Aids Commission (NAC).

Teveta service centre manager for the North, Conceptor Nyamadzawo Bamusi, made the observation on Tuesday in Likoma during the presentation ceremony of certificates and start-up tool kits to 54 youths trained in carpentry and joinery, tailoring and design, fabrication and wielding, and hairdressing.

“We have noticed that more males than females have benefited from our programmes. So the 60:40 policy was set up to address the anomalies encountered in our previous projects.

“The issue of males benefiting more than females is not in our projects alone. Even in our management, there are fewer females because most women in the country do not have technical expertise. This policy wants more females to enrol for technical education so that they take up technical jobs,” she said.

Out of the 54 youths who were awarded with certificates in Likoma, 30 were females whereas 24 were males. The next cohort will recruit 25 youths; 15 females and 10 males.

The project targets youths from ultra-poor and labour constrained families, and it aims at empowering them through provision of vocational skills in an attempt to mitigate the impact of HIV and Aids in the country.

One of the beneficiaries in Likoma, Vera Mnkhwamba, said the training has helped her earn a job at one of the carpentry and joinery centres in the district.

3 600 youths are expected to be trained between 2012 and 2015.