Among them were activities focused on continuous monitoring of training providers in the delivery of quality TVET programmes, he said.
Presenting the authority’s 2013 annual activities report before the joint session of the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees and Public Enterprises Committees (PAC/PEC) yesterday, Mr Kolley said the authority was able to open up access to young people who would otherwise have been forgotten to acquire skills through apprenticeship programmes in different regions, including Banjul, KMC, WCR and NBR.
Acting director-general Kolley further told Assembly members that the opening of access to skills training through the apprenticeship programme in selected regions provided out-of-school youths, who could not meet entry requirements of training institutions, the opportunity to acquire training and obtain certification.
According to Mr Kolley, as the TVET landscape in The Gambia is undergoing dramatic transformation in terms of responding to the needs of national development goals, the board would continue to strengthen the NTA in the drive to develop, promote and expand new strategies for skills development, and the expansion of the apprenticeship programme to enable young people access training in livelihood skills.
This gradual but focused process requires the participation of different stakeholders and begs for the support and commitment of all, including the Assembly, he said.
He added that the board believes that encouraging increased participation of the young in relevant vocational skills training activities “is the most sustainable route of youth’s employment by creating opportunities for employability and enhanced livelihood”.
It must be recognized, he noted, that the achievements in 2013 are the results of the totality of the commitment, hard work and dedication of staff, and funding institutions such as the UNDP, ECOWAS-Spain Fund development through the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment(MoTIE) for their invaluable input in the form of capacity support to master-craft persons by providing tools and equipment for the training of youths in various trade areas under the apprenticeship programme.
