MARIENTAL: The lack of adequate lessons at the Kai //Ganaxab Youth Skills’ Training Centre in Mariental has forced some trainees to refuse to write the internal assessment examination on Monday.

Ten tailoring and fashion design trainees at the centre told Nampa in a telephonic interview that they decided not to write because they were not taught for the past two months.

The lack of lessons and training was caused by the unavailability of sewing machines over the past few months.

Another problem is that their instructor, German Kahala, also stopped giving lessons in July.

This was apparently done in protest at her not being allowed to switch from being an artisan instructor to a vocational instructor.

“We, the trainees at Kai //Ganaxab, refuse to write the exam because we did nothing but slept over the past two months. We demand that the instructor teaches us and gives us practical training before we write the exam,” read a text message sent to Nampa.

They said they fear failing if they write the exam without enough training.

“I came here to get skills, to pass and to go home with the knowledge that I can use, but not to write exams without being taught and fail,” one female student noted.

Centre Principal Uirikua Kavita confirmed to this agency on Tuesday that trainees refused to write, and an arrangement to teach them first before the exams was reached.

“We have agreed to delay the assessment for now so that next month, they can be taught for two weeks. In those two weeks, we will extend the teaching hours to three hours a day, just to catch up. Later, they will write,” Kavita explained.

The principal noted that the machines are now available, and that instructor Kahala has returned to work this month.

In the meantime, two instructors, being planning and pipe-fitting instructor Abisai Sebele and Eslon Kavari (carpentry and joinery) had also been boycotting giving classes since last year.

They claimed that the centre lacked equipment, and did not follow a Namibia Training Authority (NTA)-authorised curriculum either.

Kavita said the trainees of these two instructors are still without training, and the matter is being addressed by the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sports and Culture.