An initiative taken to establish a Cement Technology Institute by Mugher, the state owned cement factory has been endorsed by the Ministry of Industry and is to be established this year at a cost of 4.8 million Br.

Although Mugher came up with the initiative and was to establish it on its own, the MoI wanted other cement factories to be involved. While others have shown interest in the project, so far it is Messebo, National and Derba Midroc cement factories that have begun their own involvement.

The aim of the institute is to produce human power that are to be trained in the sector. The initiative came from Mugher, the oldest factory in the country and until recently one of the few factories producing cement, with a realization that it might soon lose its employees to the competition.

Dominated mainly by two factories until five years ago, the cement sector has seen new ones joining in. Currently there are 15. It will soon to reach 20 as five more prepare to enter the market.

“There are only a few trained people in the market,” Mekonnen Zergaw, CEO of Mugher, told reporters. “There will be a lot of job mobility in the sector and we will be the victim.”

It is to curtail this fear that Mugher came up with the idea to have a specialized training center. The institute will be at the headquarters of the factory, located in Mugar, Oromia Regional State. A one-story building used as a training centre and an assembly hall will be adapted to suit the new institute, according to Mekonnen.  

“The building will be fitted with teaching materials and laboratory equipment,” Mekonnen stated.

The CTI will be the third institute next to Leather and Textile Institutes, established in 2003 and 2007, respectively, formed to build the capacity of a sector.

Experts at Mugar have drafted the standards and expertise needed to produce competent personnel in the field. This has been endorsed by the Ministry of Education, with some amendments taking place on Friday, December 11, 2011.

“This is because industries are not supplied with  skilled human power capable of practicing the training,” an expert at the MoE who is engaged in the process told Fortune.

Indeed, most students who took training in different TVET colleges did not obtain professional standard certification.  Out of 20,924 students trained in TVET,  there were only 2,726 (13pc) who passed the qualification tests and obtained certification from the Addis Abeba City Administration’s Occupation Competency Assessment and Certification Centre in the last fiscal year.

The standards adopted now are classified from level one up to level five, based on the required skills of each of the levels. Level one and two cover basic cement production equipment operation. Level three and four cover cement production and technical operation and supervision, and level five focuses on cement technology management.  

With the given standards, the MoE is preparing the curriculum for TVET colleges and the institute including the criteria necessary to join them and the profession. This will help the cement factories to get professionals who are trained according to the criteria set by the factories themselves. It will enhance efficiency and quality production, according to the expert at MoI.

Mesfin Abi, general manager of Habesha Cement, agrees. 

“It should be pushed to the level where it can produce manpower that can design equipment including cement plants,” he stated.