Dry-Genice Higoam and Wilbard Mbenzi emerged as the overall winners of this year's National Skills Competition, which concluded at Ongwediva on Saturday.

The National Skills Competition is an initiative by the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology, and Innovation (MHETI) and the Namibia Training Authority (NTA). The Ongwediva Trade Fair Centre buzzed with activities as a passionate group of competitors gathered to showcase and compete in their respective skills.

Over 90 Namibian students received scholarships to study various related courses in the green hydrogen industry, availed through grant funding from Germany.

Sixty awardees will undertake Master's Degree courses, while 30 will undertake their studies at the local Vocational Training Centres.

The awarding ceremony took place at the State House.

The scholarships are part of the Namibian Youth for Green Hydrogen Scholarship Programme and attracted 1 128 applicants after the applications were opened in March last year.

The government is constructing more Vocational Training Centres in Kunene, Kavango West, ||Kharas and Oshikoto regions so that more learners could pursue their studies through TVET.

This was revealed by the Minister of Higher, Technology and Innovation, Itah Kandjii-Murangi during the inauguration of the new board members of the Namibian Training Authority (NTA).

Kandjii-Murangi says TVET is the engine of Namibia's manufacturing sector, enterprises, and industrialization and therefore, urged board members to help unlock this potential.

Employees of the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology have not received their salaries for December.

Workers held a countrywide demonstration to demand their salary payments.

At Arandis, workers marched from the shopping centre to one of the two campuses, at the town.

The employees are not only demanding their December salary which is usually paid late but also want contributions towards the medical aid and pension fund as well.

The Namibia Training Authority (NTA) aims to adopt strict intake criteria to curb the worsening dropout crisis of trainees in its apprenticeship program.

The NTA spent N$113 million on the program since its inception, however, from a pool of 772 trainees, only 104 graduates have managed to secure jobs in the last five years.

The NTA's Acting Chief Executive Officer, Muvatera Ndjoze-Siririka insists that the stigma around vocational training is partially to blame, as trainees often drop out to explore lucrative job offers instead of completing their programmes.