By Sam Opio Caleb
About 14,000 youth skilled by Busoga Kingdom’s Gabula Foundation have graduated after completing the Directorate of Industrial Training modular courses.
The graduates bring to 22,000 the number of youth trained out of the targeted 50,000 in the 5-year programme, which targets school dropouts, child or teenage mothers, and vulnerable children.
The Kyabazinga of Busoga, William Wilberforce Gabula Nadiope IV, who officiated at the third graduation ceremony organised in conjunction with Kisoboka Skilling Busoga Project at Budhumbula Palace, said skilling young people is a way of making them productive, self-reliant and leading to the money economy.
”Busoga Kingdom will continue supporting the government in skilling the youth in order to improve the quality of labour,” the Kyabazinga said while mooting for chiefdom vocational hubs and collective bargaining centres.
The Kyabazinga says the skilled graduates can pool resources, access tools and do business, including sewing school uniforms.
Mr Isaac Imaka, the Gabula Royal Foundation CEO, commended the Kingdom for the capacity building and foresight in opening up various avenues of education ladder success, saying vocational/skilling touches many.
Sulait Kyepa, the Kisoboka Skilling Busoga Programmes Manager, urged the government and other sponsors to take on the graduates, saying the Level One they have attained is equivalent to a Senior Four certificate.
He explained that once they complete Level Two, they will be duly qualified to vie for Parliament since they will have attained an equivalent of an Advanced Level certificate.
The First Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, whose donation of 100 sewing machines was handed over to the Kyabazinga, cautioned the youth against complacency and reckless lifestyles.
