The Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture has called for targeted efforts to boost enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes.

During a visit to the Namibia Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) Southern Campus in Keetmanshoop, Minister Sanet Steenkamp urged stakeholders to act.

"NTA, our TVET sector, NIMT, and everyone where we invest heavily should have concerted and dedicated efforts to join hands with our directorate to enter into our schools and really garner the interest for our children to enrol. They need to understand what the trade entails, they need to understand if there is accommodation or not, and they need to understand what will be funded and who will fund them," she said.

She also called on the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund to increase targeted advocacy so that all learners benefit from loans and grants.

Namibia Training Authority CEO Erick Nghiwanya said training must shift toward international standards.

"We are no longer interested in the issue of focusing on national qualifications of years of training programmes. Last week when I was in Kenya, they were structuring their training programme to say a person trained from level one to six must take a maximum of two and a half years. And they are well and good to go. This thing of us caging young people for three years and them getting level two or three is uncalled for. And we need to change that narrative," he said.

Currently, 420 students are enrolled full-time in Level 1–4 at NIMT Southern Campus.

Programmes include boiler making, diesel mechanic, electrical, fitting and turning, and bricklaying plastering.