Liberia: 3 Public Schools Get Modern Carpentry Training Equipment

The Government of Liberia, through the Ministries of Education and of Youth and Sports, with funding from the European Union through the Youth Rising project, last week began the installation of modern carpentry and Joinery training equipment at MTVC, W.V.S. Tubman High School and the Booker Washington Institute. 

The installation of the Carpentry and Joinery training equipment commenced last week following the rehabilitation and renovation of workshops. The installation also included training for carpentry teachers on maintenance, assembly, and damage prevention of the training equipment. 

While at William V.S. Tubman High School, Mr. Saku Dukuly Assistant Education Minister for STEM, TVET, and SIE welcomed the team to Liberia and also expressed excitement about the installation and training of the carpentry teachers. “I’m very impressed about the work and most importantly I’m excited that the teachers are involved with every step of the installation and assembly,” Minister Dukuly said. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Millias Sherif, Assistant Minister TVET at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, also shared his excitement about the installation of the modern joinery and carpentry training equipment at the three (3) TVET institutions. “As a government, we remain grateful to the European Union for investing in the TVET sector of our country. Also, we are appreciative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as an implementing partner for effectively committing itself to the Project’s deliverables.” 

He further said, “Today, we can proudly see the installation of Modern Equipment in our TVET Centers. With this, we can safely say that we are internationalizing our TVET institutions to make them very competitive. Indeed, the Youth Rising Project is a trailblazer that is changing the TVET landscape of our country.” 

In addition, Carpentry Instructors at the three training centers expressed their thanks and appreciation to the Government of Liberia, the European Union and trainers for the opportunity provided them. 

“On behalf of the team, we want to say thank you for the job well and hard done, the short time you spent here and the training you provided to us was well absorbed by the team and, as you people leave, we can assure you that this knowledge will go a long way because you introduced these machines to us,” said Morris Dennis, a Carpentry Instructor at William V.S. Tubman High School.

Members of the installation team, from the Felder Group in Austria, express how impressed they were with the participants during the installation process. They said the participants exceeded their expectations. “We started with them from the basics but, today, I can tell you they are all professionals 101% percent,” a member of the Felder Group team said. 

The team went on further to share how excited and eager these teachers were to learn and reach that level. “As well as the motivation from their side, I think it played a big role that the team was eager to learn and see this new technology and when the teachers here in Liberia are able not only to train students but are able to install and repair them.” 

Lastly, the team emphasized how comfortable they were with the trainees’ level of the training and had a word to share with young Liberians. “To the young generation, carpentry is an ongoing profession that was long before we all were born, I think we can see carpentry in every day of our lives in furniture, our homes, and my word to the young generation is that carpentry is the future and machines today makes the work easier.”