Japan funds new vocational and technical courses

The Japan International Cooperation Agency has provided funding of CFA6 billion (US$11.4 million) to increase the provision of the Vocational and Technical Training Centre in Dakar, through the creation of two new courses.

The centre, known by its French initials CFPT (Centre de Formation Professionnelle et Technique), was established in 1984 with Japanese grant aid and technical cooperation to help develop Senegal’s economy by educating middle- and high-level technical and technological workers.

While 85% of its students are Senegalese, others come from various West African French-speaking countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali.

Training seminars for the new courses have just taken place at the CFPT for 24 students from 15 African countries under the JICA third-country training programme, reported SudOnline of Dakar.

The courses are focused on the production of electrical appliances using solar energy, and production of educational materials.

The Senegalese minister for youth, vocational training and employment, Aly Coto Ndiaye, said the five-week seminar was “well in line with the 10-year education and training programme introduced by Senegal, of which one of the three components is centred on improving the organisational quality of vocational and technical education,” reported SudOnline.

CFPT Director Ousseynou Gueye said the programme had resulted in “preparation of electronic cards, regulators and transformers for a power supply to convert electricity from solar panels, via batteries, to alternating current of 220V-50hz”.

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original report.