Namibian students pursuing qualifications in Cuba are appealing to the government to streamline the registration or accreditation processes of the Engineering Council and Council of Architects.
The engineering students made their plea during a recent meeting with the Minister of Works and Transport, John Mutorwa.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Works and Transport says the laws establishing the two councils are outdated.
After obtaining their qualifications, engineering students are required to register with the Engineering Council and the Council of Architects.
These are both statutory bodies that regulate the scope of practice within the aforementioned professions.
However, the graduates cannot be employed permanently without full accreditation from the two councils, a requirement that is sanctioned by the government too.
“Now that brings challenges because for registration, we are required to be mentored by registered engineers and considering that the Ministry does not always have a good number of registered engineers or architects, it becomes a bit difficult to train the students and with my experience with the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development often send out students out to private companies where they undergo their training, after which if they are successful they return to the Ministry and possibly gain employment but the challenge with that is that the OPM offers only contracts for a period of 3 years and for one to be registered you are required to be in training for 2 to 3 years.”
Explained engineering student, John Amukasha.
The Ministry of Works and Transport is advocating for the complete repeal of the acts that established the two councils.
The repeal is against the realisation that the pieces of legislation do not address the current needs of professions such as engineering, architecture, and quantity surveying.
Minister Mutorwa revealed that the process had started three years ago when the ministry brought a new bill to Cabinet that is to replace the current acts.
“So in Cabinet, we got the principle approval as Cabinet has got various structures, that is on. Slow maybe but it is on and therefore you are right in saying we need to repeal completely the current Engineering Act of 1996, and the Architecture Act, it’s archaic. It is frustrating, there are quite a number of students, and some of them are at home there to get registration. But you are 100$% correct so we have to work very hard.”
The students are required to work for the government upon completing their studies as part of the contractual obligations.