A total of 109 trainees, including five males, have graduated from Erigem Institute of Floral Design and Culinary Arts in Ho after completing various courses.
The Institute, established in 2010 for cake decoration and confectionery art, has ever since provided skill competence to over one thousand individuals nationwide.
The ceremony, which was organised last Sunday combined the 11th and 12th graduating classes, following the cancellation of the former due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The graduates’ acquired skills in cake decoration and sugarcraft, balloon and floral decoration, as well as catering.
They were awarded certificates by the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI).
Mr Divine Bosson, Volta Regional Director of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), who was the special guest of Honour, described skills as an individual’s greatest assets.
He said skill training provided one with the opportunity to survive in areas of specialisation and therefore advised the trainees to show enough commitment.
“Skill training provides the opportunity to make a living out of anything. When they say there is no job, remember your skill,” he said.
Madam Mariam Adzroe, Founder and Director of the Institute, said the school recently relocated from its original venue to a permanent site within the Ho Municipality.
She appealed for assistance to complete an ongoing hostel facility.
She said the Institute was dedicated to serving the vulnerable, including orphans, and offered scholarships to 20 beneficiaries among the graduates.
She was grateful to the government for supporting the institute with personal protective equipment and sanitary materials to help contain the coronavirus spread.
Madam Adzroe further appealed for a bus to meet the transport needs of the school, saying, “We are complementing the government’s efforts and we need support to train more people to become economically independent.”
She said the future looked bright for the Institute as it was envisioned to establish the first private vocational university in the country.
Mr Douglas Wagba, a Telecommunications Engineer, said graduation was not an end to learning and acquiring skills and asked the graduates to persist in knowledge acquisition.
A fund-raiser was held towards the completion of the hostel block for the Institute, which attracted generous contributions.
An exhibition was also mounted, showcasing the graduates’ competence in the various skills they acquired.
GNA
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Sourcegna.org.gh