As every nation have a head, every organization have a head as well. The Liaison Officer gives us the insight of the Centre Manager’s Office, the accounting officer of RVTC, the chief in command of this famous institution, Mr. Kornelius Lukas.
Being a TVET guru himself Lukas is not new to the world of Vocational Education. As a founder of TVET, former trainee and former VET Trainer find himself as the man behind the steering wheel of RVTC. Before coming back to his childhood training Centre, Lukas was running two regions (Kavango & Zambezi) as the Senior Artisan Foreman Government Garage division. He was further appointment to oversee 14 Government Garages country wide. “No one is too old to study, 2007 I furthered my studies at College of Cape Town to obtain N6 Certificate and National N Diploma in Engineering” added Lukas. By 2009, Lukas registered with the Namibia Engineering Council. He was also promoted to be the acting Deputy Director of Government Garage. Adding on his resume, Lukas worked as a Dealer Principal for Pupkewitz Toyota in Windhoek before transferring to Rundu branch.
Appointed back in 2017 by NTA, Lukas was happy to come back to the Centre where he was trained and where he was an Instructor of Auto Mechanic. Being a Centre Manager (CM) in the world of technology, there are challenges to be experienced in the entire road. His mission is to see every Namibian child trained in TVET. Training artisans means you need to be in line with the ever-changing technology. This is a challenge according to Lukas as funds to be at par with the industries is costing. “Upgrading the equipment’s yearly or upgrading our staff members is very costing. Considering the economic situation of our country, we really struggle due to budget cuts” said Lukas. High utility (Telephone, internet, water and electricity) payments by the Centre to the providers are some of the expenses the Centre is facing. The Centre’s core business is training and cash flow is very minimal.
Despite challenges, Lukas is happy that the staff members are supportive and works together with the Management to ensure that RVTC is the most admired VTC in SADC. In his words, Lukas was quote saying: “am not running the Centre, we are running the Centre as RVTC staff and trainees”.
The team is working hard to ensure that RVTC becomes a technical college since the upgrading of NUST into a University. The aim is to train from level 5 to 7.
“I will remain a humble servant of TVET”