By CHILA NAMAIKO-
TWENTY-FIVE Patriotic Front (PF) youths in Choma District have graduated after undergoing a six-months training in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with a pledge to help Government in fostering national development.
The youths were sponsored by PF’s National Project for Poverty Reduction (NPPR) created in 2012 to provide various training and empowerment skills to youths.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony at the weekend, NPPR chairperson Ngosa Simbyakula said the PF was committed to empowering youths with various life training skills.
Dr Simbyakula who is also Home Affairs Minister said Government was fighting poverty through various programmes and that skills development was one of the many ways to reduce youth unemployment.
“The battle for fighting youth unemployment cannot be won by Government alone. That is why Government attaches great importance to programmes that are aimed at complementing its efforts in devising interventions that will contribute to the creation of sustainable jobs for the youths,” he said.
The PF youths in Choma were trained at St Mary’s Training Institute. So far, 80 youths in Lusaka and Central provinces have graduated while 35 in Muchinga, 50 in Northern and 35 from Luapula provinces would be graduating next month.
Dr Simbyakula said the PF would embrace initiatives designed to provide skills training programmes in line with Government’s national development agenda.
He said education was a journey of life and that the certificates the youths had acquired, should not end in themselves but are meant  for economic development.
NPPR director Anthon Kasandwe said the project was created to help reduce poverty and unemployment levels among youths through skills training programmes.
He said, through NPPR many youths across the country would continue to have more money in their pockets.
St Mary Training Institute representative Joseph Bwalya commended Government for its efforts to economically uplift the welfare of youths.
Speaking on behalf of the graduating youths, Joel Kamoko commended PF through its NPPR project for training them free of charge and assured of using the acquired skills to develop the country.