Cameroon Job Seekers Told IVTC Buea Is Gateway To Employment

By Christopher Ambe Shu

It is high time Cameroonian youth and even holders of academic certificates who find it hard to secure jobs got enrolled in to Buea Intensive Vocational Training Centre (IVTC) for Office Employees, so to better prepare themselves for the job market, Becky Effoe(pictured), director of Buea IVTC, has said.

“Vocational training is not meant only for school drop outs as some people wrongly believe. It is for all of us! In fact, everybody stands a better chance of making the most with the marketable skills IVTC offers”

Becky Effoe, in an interview with The Recorder, said Buea IVTC is one of six public vocational training centers in the country and the only one catering for Cameroonians of English expression.

“IVTC is here to provide quality training to all who desire it, be they public or private sector workers or simply to individuals who feel the need to acquire or upgrade skills in office techniques, basic accounting and computer literacy and maintenance”, she noted.

She said IVTC offers diploma courses with duration of nine months, adding that its courses as at now have three specializations: Bilingual Secretary ship, Accounting Assistants and Computer Maintenance and Repairs. Some programs in the pipeline include: Dessigning and Organizing Computer Programs; Infography, and General Computer and Programming Language

The Director boasted, ‘Thousands have graduated from this center, many of whom are found in offices and financial institutions nationwide. The number involved in business ventures too is increasing”

Admission into IVTC, she noted, is either through an entrance examination or through direct negotiations with the centre.
Short/tailored certificate courses too are offered such as: office administration, secretarial procedures, stress and time management, meeting and minutes taking. Also, other courses are offered according to the clients’ needs.

Becky Effoe noted that, through government efforts, IVTC has evolved over the years and taking cognizance of the average Cameroonian budget twist, courses at IVTC are offered at much reduced cost. “And in some destitute cases, tuition has been free”
She appealed to parents, sponsors, and employers to take advantage of the training opportunities at IVTC.

“Go for the option of vocational training for your children, for yourself, for your employees or simply, encourage your friends. This is the sure route to self-employment. It is sure route to self-reliance. This is the shortest route out of idleness and its accompanying ills”, the director specially appealed to the public.

“Youth unemployment is a big issue for government and one of the ways it is rolling back this canker worm is through vocational training,” Becky Effoe remarked
According to the director, IVTC is connected to the National Employment Fund and the Integrated Support Project for Actors of the Informal Sector (PIASSI). These bodies provide advice and funds for people with the right ideas and skills, to set up self-employment ventures.