24 Sep 2012

Increasing need for youth skills training in Vanuatu

5:49 am on 24 September 2012

The Vanuatu Rural Development and Training Centres Association says the need for youth skills training is huge, and is getting bigger.

There are 34 VRDTCA Training Centres around Vanuatu, focussing on addressing youth skill shortages in rural areas.

Its director, Kathy Solomon, says the need is also becoming obvious in the cities, especially as more and more children, as young as ten, drop out of school each year.

"Every year, like last year, there were 6 thousand children who went through exam and there only 2 and a half thousand who were able to continue with their formal education. The rest were just returned to their communities, to their families, with very limited skills, you can see the need of what we're doing."

Kathy Solomon says the teaching includes carpentry, construction, agriculture, hospitality and tourism and is largely funded by NZAid and Oxfam.