The Okakarara Vocational Training Centre, one of the oldest vocational training centres in the country, is undergoing major renovations. 

The centre officially opened its doors in 1977, making it the oldest centre under the Namibian Training Authority's banner.

The centre's Head of Finance and Administration, Gift Kerii, said the institution set aside N$10 million for the sole purpose of renovations and has also involved its former students and current students as part of their internships.

"Today we are standing at 11 trades that are being offered at Okakarara Vocational Training Center. And it being the oldest vocational training centre, you can see that through the NTA, within its pivot and transformation strategy, the Okakarara Vocational Training Centre is undergoing some renovation to improve and to maintain some dilapidated structures."

So, trainees from the bricklaying and plastering workshop are benefiting from the skill of what it is to build a structure of this magnitude or to renovate and ensure that at least the building gets to live another 50 years or so. 

Kerri further noted that as much as there are funds allocated for the project, a lot of recycling is being done as a cost-cutting measure and reusing them in the workshops.

"So also saving on the environment; imagine dumping all this wood back into the environment; it's not going to save any purpose. But like the door you have just seen, we produced it using these old roof trusses, wood roof trusses. And we are taking you now to go and see how we remove the nails and ensure that the ones of good qualities are sorted in various sizes so that we can reuse them for the next foreseeable future."

The centre normally spends about N$200,000 to procure training material just for the carpentry workshop within the span of six months, excluding the assessment material that we normally procure.