Reaction to proposed axe of Toi Ohomai forestry courses

The proposal to cut programs from a Rotorua apprenticeship training program has blindsided the forestry and wood manufacture industry. The proposal from Bay of Plenty’s Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology would mean up to twenty job losses, the Tertiary Education Union said.

Courses proposed to be cut included timber machining, forest management, social and youth work and rehabilitation studies, it said.

Senior tutor in Forestry and Wood manufacturing Kerry Parker told  Checkpoint there had been a lack of consultation with industry players over the proposal to cut the courses. They had not been informed as to what would happen to those students who had yet to complete their apprenticeships, he said.

“Because we’re the only place in New Zealand and in the southern hemisphere that does this type of training, they’re just like… ‘What happens to our employees that are halfway through their apprenticeship’,” he said.

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Source: RNZ

Image credit: Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology