FG Launches School-to-Work Scheme

By Bassey Inyang in Calabar

The Federal Government has launched the School-to-Work Scheme which  it noted, was designed to prepare children for after school employment.

Launching the programme facilitated by the Federal Government under the National Directorate of Employment (NDE),in Calabar on Thursday evening, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said the scheme would provide the needed skills for young people in school for self-employment after they would have graduated from secondary school.

“It is pertinent to note that the STWS is aimed at introducing the concept of skills acquisition training very early to our youths. Secondary school students from JSS2 to JSS3 have been selected to participate in the pilot phase simultaneously running in the following states: Cross River, Kogi, Anambra, Bauchi, Katsina and Ondo states.
“This will enable them to acquire skills that will change their future in the absence of white collar jobs,” Ngige said.

The minister said the School-to-Work programme curriculum has been designed to deliver vocational, agricultural, entrepreneurial and life skill training to the trainees within two months vacation period.

Ngige said those who need up-skilling would be assisted during the next long vacation of the following year.

“I am convinced that the School-to-Work Scheme when fully implemented would have created a new army of young responsible Nigerians who are equiiped with 21st century skills and are very willing and prepared to take not just their own destinies in their hands, but that of this great country. “Their attitude to work, nation building and wealth creation would have been properly shaped to fully align with the change agenda of the APC-led Government at the centre,”
Ngige said.