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Govt asks TVET to skill youth for employment
State minister for higher education, John Chrysostom Muyingo. Photo/Courtesy
What you need to know:
- According to government data, youths account for majority of Uganda's unemployment burden in the nation of over 44 million people.
The state minister for higher education, John Chrysostom Muyingo has asked Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to encourage youth to join them for training in order to acquire skills to beat unemployment.
Mr Muyingo was speaking on November 25 during the launch of the TVET magazine which he described as “an appropriate forum through which they can now use to disseminate and create awareness about TVET to all stakeholders.”
"Politicians are disturbed by the high rate of unemployment of the young boys you see on the streets riding boda bodas. Some have degrees but no jobs but as government, we believe that skilling youth in these institutions is the solution to unemployment," Mr Muyingo said.
He added that: "Now that we are into the East African integration, we need to skill our people because they are going to start competing for jobs with Kenyans and Tanzanians among others."
According to Dr Muyingo, Uganda acknowledges that quality vocational and technical skills are vital for increased productivity and competitiveness of human capital.
However, he decried low numbers of people embracing TVET hence low enrolment in these skilling programmes.
"In the past, there has been a low appreciation of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) leading to low enrolment in skilling programs. This has largely been because of the prioritization of white-collar to blue-collar jobs by some Ugandans. Today, TVET is not yet fully embraced as a priority career pathway," Mr Muyingo said.
According to government data, youths account for majority of Uganda's unemployment burden in the nation of over 44 million people.
