The ceremony was attended by cabinet ministers, parents as well as a cross section of the community. The graduating students underwent months of intense study in IT related fields namely: Information Technology, Network Security, Digital Marketing, Web Development and Design and Server Administration.
Delivering his remarks, Pierre Gomez, minister of Higher Education, Research Science and Technology, thanked the institution for achieving a milestone development in making education not only affordable, but accessible to many.
“You have made a desirable change in the lives of these young people by giving them hope to succeed as individuals and for the development of the society. Today we witness the graduation of students in IT related fields.”
Minister Gomez reminded that in most developing countries Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is intended to serve two critical roles in long term national development; the first is to provide training and professional growth possibilities for the growing number of youths.
“The second responsibility is to supply the trained labour required at all economic levels. In the absence of paid employment, the skills learned should be able to lead to self sufficiency and accelerate the growth of the economy, individuals have to pursue lifelong learning skills to determine their own destiny and career path.”
He therefore used the opportunity to vehemently call on girl’s participation in TVET education.
For his part, Ousman Bah, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IIHT, who is currently the Minister of Communication and Digital and Economy, acknowledged the importance of enhancing employability and labour productivity of people and helping countries become more competitive than aid with structural transformation and economic growth.
He challenged the graduating class as they complete another cycle of their studies, many would now attest how important it is to learn skills in this day and age.
“I urged you to be ambassadors to embrace skill development as the choice in our education ladder .Going forward, I am proud of your achievements and be comforted that you will soon learn enough even to employ someone paid as much as possible”.
Also speaking, Ebrima Jobe, board of Director of the Institute, expressed gratitude and appreciation to witness yet another important event in the annals of the institution.
“We gathered here to witness another IIHT graduation ceremony of 400 students that have completed with credit in various ICT career programs.”
