Tonga’s national qualification on sustainable energy gets needed support

In its endeavour to unlock opportunities for its people through a target of 70% renewable energy by 2030, the Tonga government fully appreciates that it needs to build a strong base of qualified and experienced local capacity to design, install and maintain its renewable energy installations. The Ministry of Education and Training in Tonga is therefore working together with its development partners (the EU-funded Pacific Technical Vocational Education and Training in Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Adaptation project (EU-PacTVET), the Pacific Community’s Nuku’alofa-based Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (PCREEE) and the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster, Environment Climate Change and Communication (MEIDECC) to develop a Tonga National Qualification on Sustainable Energy.

The Task Force for this exercise was inspired when they met and updated the Hon. Minister for Education and Training, Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni, on Wednesday 8^th July, 2020 on its initiative.  In the meeting, the Hon. Minister stated: “The national qualification is crucial for pursuing our energy and climate change targets. More importantly, it will provide pathways for the youths of Tonga to get accredited qualifications and open up opportunities for jobs locally and abroad too. These are lasting impacts you should keep in mind as we jointly strive to recover from the current pandemic.”

The Tonga National Qualification on Sustainable Energy are in Levels 1- 4 and builds on the regional qualification framework hosted by the Educational Quality and Assessment Programme of SPC. It allows students with limited secondary school years to gain a qualification which is recognized in Tonga and abroad.        

The Tonga Institute of Science and Technology will deliver the courses.  Mr. Vilimaka Foliaki from the Tonga National Qualification and Assessment Board and Ms. Darlene Lovi from the PCREEE will lead the development of the Tonga National Qualification.

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