DIT assesses NWSC technicians and artisan staff as 395 graduate in vocational skills.
Drake Nyamugabwa
The staff of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) underwent intense-skilling skills training aimed at improving service delivery and addressing the technical training needs of the Corporation over 395 graduated with vacation skills from the NWSC Vocational Skills Development Facility presided over by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) Board Chairman representative, Mr. George Runge.
The graduands underwent competence-based practical assessment by the Directorate of Industrial Training and were found to be technically competent.
The graduates will be passed out during the climax of the celebration to mark 50 years of NWSC in Kololo by the President of Uganda HE Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on 2nd December 2022.
This stemmed from the fact that all the existing vocational training schools in Uganda could not duly address the technical training needs of the Corporation.
The days’ activities according to NWSC are in line with the NWSC strategic priority Areas (SPA 3&5) of the corporate plan 2021 – 2024 which are SPA 3- Skilling and Workforce Development and; SPA 5- Organizational Health & Sustainability
Runge alluded to the country’s Vision 2040 which includes having a middle-income economy by 2040, and the Government Manifesto which emphasizes promoting sustainable Growth and structural transformation of the economy which all require the development of skills that are responsive to the dynamics and demands of the labor market.
“The graduation ceremony we are having today points towards the NWSC’s deliberate efforts towards meeting the increased capacity needs that are demand driven and are responsive to the growing service delivery needs of the Corporation. Therefore, you must play your part in; the fight against Non-Revenue Water, elevating service delivery and business growth”, stated Mr. Runge.
The Graduation of November 2022 according to the statement from the training facility marks the 4th Workers Practically Acquired Skills certification and graduation ceremony held at the NWSC training school.
“Previous graduations at the facility were held in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The graduation ceremony is a climax of intensive training for Plumbers, Electro-mechanical Technicians, Quality Control Technicians, Water Treatment Plant Operators, and Sewerage Plant Technicians from all regions” it reads in part
The same ceremony recognized and celebrated the Masters students who were sponsored by NWSC to pursue postgraduate studies at WEDC/Loughborough University and IHE Netherlands.
Dr. Rose Kaggwa, the Director Business Scientific Services, thanked NWSC Board Management for initiating a training programme that directly responds to both the institutional and labor market needs and addresses the corporation’s problems, like NRW.
Dr. Kaggwa recognized great milestones registered in the 4th graduation such as; for the first time; the program had 24 staff graduating with LEVEL 4 EMT (equivalent to national diploma), female participants increased by 10% and, the training was able to attract Engineers to participate in the practical skills assessment.
In 2013, the management of NWSC embarked on a journey of re-skilling and retooling NWSC technicians and artisan staff, through vocational skills training and development. As a result, a fully-fledged vocational training school (VSDF) was constructed in Gaba to meet these impending skills gaps in the water sector.
With secured financial and technical support from the German International Cooperation (GIZ), and collaboration with the Directorate of Industrial Training – Ministry of Education and Sports (DIT–MoES), the Corporation constructed the Gaba VSDF school managing to develop and accredit modular vocational and technical courses for industrial plumbers, electro-mechanical technicians, industrial welders, water quality technicians, sewerage services technicians, photo voltaic and solar energy technicians, customer service advisors, vocational training instructors, heavy equipment operators, Workers’ PAS certification for informally skilled technicians, among other skills.
