Prime Minister (PM) James Marape recently opened a two-day forum on Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) in Port Moresby on Monday night this week, describing it as a milestone achievement aimed at empowering Papua New Guineans to participate in the country’s economy. The multi-million kina 'Improved TVET for Employment' project is co-funded by three partners including Australian Government, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and PNG Government, and is being implemented by the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology through ten TVET colleges in different parts of the country. While thanking the two co-sponsors of the project, PM Marape highlighted that if Papua New Guineans are to be empowered to the highest level, it has to be in the education sector, but more so in the area of TVET where they are provided the skills and ethics to be competent and to be able to participate meaningfully in the country’s economy. He stated that in the past five years, despite the country facing hardships due to COVID-19, it was able to grow its economy but also highlighted were huge deficiencies in the lack of properly skilled manpower to sustain the economy. “By the end of this year, we will post K40 million GDP (Gross Domestic Product). But in the midst of this growth, I’ve seen a major deficiency that we carry; we lack properly skilled workforce to fill in the gap to sustain the growth that is required.” “We aim to grow a K200 million economy. To grow it, we need a skilled workforce.’’ He emphasized that this sector is closest to his heart and thanked the Asian Development Bank for taking heed of his request few years ago to move from its traditional role in sponsoring the infrastructure projects such as roads, ports and airports, to the education sector with a particular focus on TVET. PM Marape also stated that the TVET project complements the improvements being made in the infrastructure sector as without skilled people, there would be no one to work in the construction sector. “In my view, it complements the ports, roads and airports that we are trying to invest in. Or what use is investment in roads, if we don’t have people to work in the construction sector, so thank you, ADB.” In addition, he highlighted that it has shown through studies that an economy is successful because it is anchored by a properly skilled blue-collar workforce. The Prime Minister also pointed out the efforts being made to address the growing problem of dropouts by phasing out grade eight and grade ten school leavers so all children can progress and complete grade twelve, who will be prepared to streamline into TVET or tertiary institutions such as universities. In thanking Australia for being PNG’s major bilateral development partner since Independence, he highlighted that the workforce being developed in PNG should not only benefit PNG but also Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, he urged the two countries to consider employing Papua New Guineans not just in working as seasonal fruit-pickers but also in professional jobs, including trades as, PNG has long been influenced by Western societies including through Christianity, which makes it much easier for Papua New Guineans to adjust in the two countries than realized. The project, Improved TVET for Employment, was initiated ten years ago when PM Marape was then the finance minister under the previous government. The key areas in the project include improving governance and management in the colleges, focusing on teacher training, improving the curriculum and gender-inclusive infrastructure. PM Marape’s role in the project was acknowledged during the opening night by other speakers, including Project Manager Dr George Bopi-Kerepa.