Bailundo - The government project dubbed Successful Youth Town inaugurated on January19, 2022, in Bailundo Municipality, central Huambo Province, is expected to be a solution and guarantee of a promising future for hundreds of vulnerable youths and teenagers.
The project focuses on improving living conditions and ensuring a promising future, via the promotion of vulnerable young people in society and on the job market.
Operating under the supervision of the National Employment and Vocational Training Institute (INEFOP), the Youth of Success Town project has the capacity to accomodate 220 teenagers and young people, of which 120 boarders and the same number of externs.
At least 300 requests for admission were submitted to join the vocational training school, however, only 160 met the requirements, which consist of being part of a vulnerable family, 6th grade concluded and aged between 14 and 17.
The criterion was, firstly, to visit the pupils' families to find out about their socio-economic condition, with the aim to integrate them into society with some skill acquired.
Of the 160 pupils enrolled in the 7th grade, 65 are boarders, while 95 are external students receiving training on metalwork, low voltage electricity, carpentry and information technology.
Besides these courses, pupils are required to obtain general knowledge in Agriculture, so that, during the three-year training programme that is from 7th to 9th grade they can produce food for the self-support of the centre.
Built on an eight-hectare site outskirts of Bailundo through a 1.5 million US dollars investment , the centre has a total of 22 teachers,14 general teachers, four for technical classes in the laboratories and the same number for agriculture.
It has a school area with three classrooms, two carpentry and metalwork workshops and two computer and electricity laboratories, administrative areas, canteens, changing rooms, football pitch, staff residence, two buses and other essential equipment for normal operation.
The project is a strategy of the Angolan government, which aims to train teenagers and young people, particularly from needy families, to respond to the need for self-employment in the country's remote communities.
The training provided in the spot is a combination of the normal academic model and a three-year vocational training programme in varied specialities, focusing on the competitiveness of the trainees.
Besides vocational training, the project focuses on agricultural and poultry production for the centre's diet, while the surplus is for sale.
The objective, according to the agricultural and poultry trainer, António Walicala, is that after the conclusion of the three-year training, students also live in the countryside with dignity. ZZN/ALH/VM/Amp/jmc
