The Mansa Trades Training Institute says the institution has expanded its scope of courses from four (4) courses to 14 courses in order to meet students demand which has increased since the introduction of skills development bursaries.
The Principal at the college, Mr Mukuka Musanse says each of the courses are being offered at three levels in addition to the diploma levels whose durations are two and three years.
“The demand for courses has grown because of the CDF which is paying fees for people who could not afford to pay on their own. The CDF has allowed for those who did not complete grade 12 to come to school and get skills from level 1 to level 3” he adds.
Mr Mukuka says resulting from the increased courses and levels, the institute has also recruited more staff and lecturers.
“We have employed some more workers because we have students coming from all the 15 constituencies in Luapula Province, 5 constituencies in Northern Province and other provinces in the country” he adds.
The Principal however, noted that the high numbers of students has also created some challenges which the institution is currently working to rectify.
“We initially had challenges with accommodation for the students but so far, we have constructed one block for male accommodation which is currently housing 80 students. We also bought 20 computers in 2023 for the computer lab which students can use for research”.
The training institute has also invested in aquaculture through the procurement of 18,000 fingerlings and planted 10 hectares of maize and one hectare of a banana plantation. While the school has continued to invest in the various departments like the poultry in order to expand and raise more money for the institution.
Meanwhile, Cleopatra Mwamba from Lunte District who is also a first year Electrical Engineering students at MTTI says she is enjoying the course she is doing and plans to create employment for herself and others once she graduates.
“I have always admired people that studied engineering so I decided to do this course and I know that when I finish, I will be living on my own and making my own money from the works I will be doing”, she added.
Lengwe Elvis from Bangweulu Constituency in Samfya thanked the Republican President Mr. Hakainde Hichilema for introducing skills development bursaries which is helping to sponsor under privileged youths to acquire a skill.
“CDF has really helped us because we never used to do such programmes before because it was to be expensive for us. I completed secondary school in 2012 but my parents could not manage to take me to school until the government sponsored me using CDF”, revealed Elvis.
