Tailevu lad Tevita Valu is one of 230 apprentices given a government grant to train from the National Training and Productivity Centre (NTPC) under Fiji National University.
The Asco Motors apprentice said this was his first year of joining the workforce, and he counted himself lucky after joining this program.
“After COVID, I was kind of stuck and I didn’t know what to do, especially in the academic area, so I figured out that a blue-collar job will be much faster than a white-collar job,” the 23-year-old said.
“I attended one of the Centre for Appropriate Technology and Development in Nadave, then I applied for an apprenticeship and here I am.
“Now, we have to go out and spread the message for others to join the program too, since we have been inspired and now our duty is for other people to be inspired too.”
Mr Valu said the labour shortage percentage in Fiji presented as a real issue as most people were migrating overseas. Thus, he said such skills training programs would be very helpful for the youth.
Minister for Employment Agni Deo Singh also said apprenticeship schemes had a proven record in terms of providing quality, on-the-job training.
“There’s nothing better than an apprenticeship scheme that has a job-ready worker at the end of the process,” he said.
“The merging of the apprenticeship scheme with the administration of the scheme was probably not the best of decisions, we believe that we need to relook at that, and I am assuring you that the Government is actually seriously considering that now.
“The message that needs to go very clearly is that blue-collar trades are much more marketable than the white collar, academic qualifications are less marketable than the trades and they earn better as well.”
Acting NTPC director Amrish Narayan also announced they had trained and graduated 9,156 apprentices under the schemes since its inception.
“In April, we anticipate graduating 62 more apprentices.” He said their 2024 plan was to recruit over 200 more apprentices, in addition to the 270 that were already on board.
