Prime
Let us invest in vocational education
Students at Nakawa Vocational Training Institute in Kampala during a practical lesson in October 2019. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- The issue: Education
- Our view: If we switch focus to vocational education, students will be prepared for specific careers and we will also be able to revive the glory of the university degree.There is an opportunity for universities to further innovate and merge technical disciplines with practical training programmes to equip learners with productive skills.
This week, thousands were awarded PhDs, bachelors’ degrees, diplomas and certificates in various disciplines at Makerere University.
The graduates join thousands of Ugandans who have graduated in past years and who are actively waiting to find employment.
As we continue to wait for the government and the private sector to create more jobs for the many unemployed graduates, it is time for the government and other stakeholders to sensitise and encourage Ugandans to embrace vocational education.
Parents’ efforts to enrol their children in universities appear to yield little in light of the growing number of job seekers versus job creators. Spending Shs10m on a three-year university course with little hope for a job opportunity after graduation does not seem like a good return on investment.
A diploma or certificate in industrial art or tailoring may be more worthwhile since after studies, one can leverage the booming tourism sector to create their own job.
Going forward, vocational studies can help to counter the increasingly prohibitive school fees that continue to plague the education sector by offering an alternative and possibly rewarding path for many learners.
It is important that children are equipped with skills-based studies in vocational institutes so that they can instantly become productive. The privilege of university education can avail itself later since the provision is available.
The current education system is simply creating less productive citizens whose only hope is to get employed somewhere.
If we switch focus to vocational education, students will be prepared for specific careers and we will also be able to revive the glory of the university degree.
There is an opportunity for universities to further innovate and merge technical disciplines with practical training programmes to equip learners with productive skills.
It is important to prepare a person for the job market which requires workers with hands-on skills rather than classroom theory. This means that a learner will take time to appreciate a particular skill and later after graduation, stand high chances of employment or create their own jobs in a similar career path.
It is difficult for a graduate with no skills to swiftly transition to available jobs in case they are not bestowed with specific vocational skills. Some of the fastest growing career paths lie in the technical fields and even university graduates could end up working in positions that do not require a degree.
