Okello notes that the region witnessed a two-decade-long Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel insurgency that affected many families, leaving them unable to educate their children.
The government will double the
enrolment of youth for skills training in all Presidential industrial
hubs across the country next year. The move follows requests
from leaders, especially in the Acholi Sub-region who are demanding an increment
in the number of youth selected per district for the skills training.
A total of 19 regional Industrial
hubs have been constructed by the government across the country Under the
Presidential Initiative to skill youth into the money economy. Under this
initiative, the government allocated each district 24 slots for youths to benefit
from three months of skills training in various vocational disciplines.
Omoro LCV Chairperson, Douglas
Peter Okello notes that while the Presidential initiative has greatly helped to
skill the youth in the region, the numbers of beneficiaries are few. Okello notes that the region witnessed
a two-decade-long Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel insurgency that affected
many families, leaving them unable to educate their children.
Luo Byte
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Responding to the requests, Eng. Raymond Kamugisha, the
Director of Presidential Projects and Industrial Hubs noted on Wednesday that the current slots will be doubled for beneficiaries since the initiative has been embraced. According to Kamugisha, the
government will start enrolling up to 50 youth from each district in the fourth
intake in March next year.
He however says the increment will be a gradual process given the current capacity of the hubs which can only take up to 600 students per intake from the region. Kamugisha was speaking on the sidelines
of a stakeholders meeting at the Acholi Zonal Presidential Industrial Hub in
Unyama Sub-county, Gulu District on Wednesday during a review of the initiative in the Acholi Sub-region.
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Kamugisha also notes that the
government through the Directorate of Industrial Training under the Ministry of
Education and Sports will introduce two new courses in weaving and knitting and
shoe-making for students at the industrial hubs.
Currently, the students are
undertaking six courses in welding and metal fabrication, bakery and confectionery,
hairdressing, building and concrete practice, tailoring and garment cutting, carpentry,
and joinery. Youth leaders from the region
have however expressed disappointment for being sidelined from the selection
processes of the youth to be enrolled for the skills training.
Simon Oketta Kilama, the Amuru District
Youth Chairperson says he didn’t take part in the selection of
youth from his area for the last two intakes and wondered why was left out. According to the selection guideline,
benefiting youth in every district are selected and vetted by a ten-member
committee comprising Youth Chairpersons, women council chairpersons, commercial
officers, District Internal Security Officers (DISO), Chief Administrative
Officers, Resident District Commissioners, and LCV Chairpersons among others.
Kilama says while the youth
chairpersons are principal signatories in the selection processes, he wasn’t given
the chance to take part in the selection process and called on the government
to intervene. Denis Odoch, the Youth
Chairperson of Gulu City equally reiterates that for all the two intakes in
which youth were selected for training, he was never involved.
He says
sidelining youth leaders in the process of selecting beneficiaries for a
program meant to uplift youth to the money economy is unfair and underscores equality
in leadership.
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Kamugisha however noted that
while the youth leaders in the region have raised a genuine concern, they weren’t
aware of their roles in the selection of the beneficiaries. “We have emphasized that the Chairperson
youth and DISO are key plus other committee members to select their
beneficiaries. It's them that hadn’t taken up their roles but now they have
been empowered with information that they have a responsibility to do,” Says
Kemigisha.
A total of 457 youth from the Acholi
Sub-region have so far graduated from the Acholi Zonal Presidential hub since
last year when the industrial hub took in its first batch of learners.
