This is severely curtailing the potential for technical and vocational education to contribute to Sustainable Development \u2013 and much of the problem lies in our own attitudes and thinking. Sometimes, sustainable development challenges can be enabled through simple (note, \u2018simple\u2019 does not mean \u2018easy\u2019) solutions; in the case of the untapped potential of technical and vocational training, this is one such case. The piece stresses why a re-thinking of our attitude towards technical and vocational education is important to sustainable development.
\nIt is a familiar story: we finish secondary school with As and Bs and a few lucky Cs will go on to university to pursue degrees. The rest of the class are \u2018doomed\u2019 to vocational and technical education. But why has this sentiment become the norm?<\/p>\n
We all have friends, family and colleagues who are naturally gifted in different things: Some people can create magic in the kitchen, others have a knack for fixing things, others still are good at D-I-Y around the house, all of which we appreciate. So why do we not encourage people with these skills to develop them to their full potential?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
From the outset we stigmatise and demotivate those with the passion and talents to work with their hands, in order to promote academic pursuits. Ill-preparation for the job market as a whole.
\nEducation has become about getting a degree, in order to get a good job or \u2018escaping\u2019 to richer parts of the country, the continent, or the world. Increasingly we are encouraged to become \u2018job creators\u2019 instead of \u2018job seekers\u2019.
\nThe truth is, we do need job creators. But the truth is also that we need skilled individuals to do those jobs! As it is, African labour may be cheap in terms of wages, but the trade-off for the quality of our products and services, render our labour uncompetitive due to the skills shortages in our labour pool and other related issues.
\nA major cause of the skills gap is poor enrolment in technical and vocational education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In all the world, Sub-Saharan Africa ranks lowest in terms of the percentage of total secondary enrolment in technical and vocational education (hovering between 4 per cent and 5 per cent). By comparison, the richest countries in the world (OECD) average around 20 per cent. And we all feel the consequences of this. For those of you out there who own cars, or at least have been involved in getting a car repaired, you will be aware of how difficult it is to find a reliable and trustworthy mechanic to fix whatever problem your car might have. Typically in Africa one must ask around with other friends if they know someone, or know someone who might know someone\u2026 Have you ever thought to ask how and where the mechanic was trained?
\nIn Africa, the informal economy is the largest employer, and a source of the majority of vocational learning. By 2008 in Senegal, some 400,000 young people were entering informal apprenticeships annually, compared to 7,000 graduates from the formal vocational and technical education centres! And in Ghana, it was estimated that as much as 80 per cent of skills development was taking place through the informal apprenticeship system. As these apprenticeships offer no certification or documentation, upon their completion young people are absorbed into the informal economy. This poses several risks and problems, a few of which are listed below:
\n\u2022 Clients and consumers have no knowledge of the quality of product or service they are receiving or purchasing.
\n\u2022 Training is not standardised so there is neither quality control, nor standard operating procedures.
\n\u2022 Costs are random.
\n\u2022 Those taking on apprentices are effectively training their competition and so have conflicting interests.
\n\u2022 Apprentices have no proof of skills and so have difficulty in presenting credentials to clients, or to financial service providers in case they would like to start their own businesses.
\n\u2022 Governments are losing revenue.
\n\u2022 Job creators and investors are unable to source local skills because they are not able to identify individuals even where they exist.
\nAnd the situation is likely to get even more complicated… Nepad estimates that by 2025, there will be 330 million young Africans eligible to enter the labour market. Africa needs jobs, yes \u2013 but it also needs people qualified to fill those jobs. As the world\u2019s attention focuses on Africa, we are witnessing a growth in the immigrant population, many of whom are finding meaningful employment and economic activity on the continent. The diversity is welcome, however it also points to three facts that we cannot ignore. There are jobs in Africa; Africans are not able to access these jobs; and, we must do something in order for Africans to be able to compete for these jobs.
\nThe perception that vocational and technical education will lead to being a \u2018job seeker\u2019 is misleading. University degrees do not guarantee that you will be a job creator or your own boss. You are just as likely to work for someone else in following either education pathway. Furthermore, from a development perspective, as the African market grows in terms of population, better linkages and spending power, there are huge opportunities for intra-African exchange. Why can these products and services not be produced in Africa? Currently Africa is outsourcing the very jobs that countries like Vietnam, Korea and China are using as the engine of their economic growth. Processing goods for the African market can and should take place in Africa \u2013 where the raw materials are found in any case. As the intra-African linkages get better, the reality is that there are many more opportunities for skilled labour (through vocation and technical education) as a starting point.
\nSo why do we stigmatise vocational and technical education and prevent youth from pursuing viable, dignified and (frankly) needed careers based on vocational skills? Why are we not encouraging more skills and vocation-oriented education in our secondary schools so we can identify, nurture and encourage those with talents that are not academic to provide vital contributions to our societies? If science and technology education is a priority, where will we source the lab technicians or the mechanics? We are appreciative of good quality technical service, indeed sometimes we are dependent on it (from fire alarms to construction work), and yet many parents would not encourage (indeed may actively discourage) pursuit of excellence in technical and vocational fields. Why?
\nFurthermore, there is nothing preventing us from complimenting vocational and technical education, with entrepreneurship skills development. When we train chefs in nutrition, flavour balancing, and so forth, why do we not also impart them with knowledge on how to start and\/or run a restaurant thereby becoming a potential job creator in the process? Africa will need entrepreneurs who are able to develop solutions from within as much as it needs entrepreneurs who adapt technologies, processes and ideas to the African context. In this area, those with the skills and experience in an industry can play a critical role in ensuring innovation is suitable to the needs and conditions of our context.
\nSo what can be done? First of all we need to break the perception that vocational and technical education is the pathway for \u2018those who don\u2019t do well at high school\u2019, added to this we need to identify and nurture those talented in non-academic ways so that they can prosper and contribute to their societies and communities using the passions and skills they are blessed with. Secondary education must incorporate more practical classes to expose pupils to alternatives in terms of future careers and possibilities (both as employees and employers).
\nGovernments can work with informal traders and service providers by providing guidelines and certification, individuals that collaborate and meet quality standards may be fast-tracked into the formal economy where they then have access to financial products and services to expand their business \u2013 various incentive packages to encourage enrolment may also be considered. These are just some of the ideas that could be considered.
\nFundamentally however the change needed, as is often the case in Africa, is our own attitudes and approaches (\u2018mind-set\u2019 to use the current phrase of choice). It is we Africans who must move away from thinking of vocational and technical education as the result of poor academic performance; of worshipping some kind of intellectual elitism. We must de-stigmatise technical and vocational education in order to enable individuals with passion and talent that are not captured in the current essays and written exams. We must recognise and encourage individuals to pursue excellence and an attitude of life-long learning in whatever field we are passionate about or talented in. The university-educated are just as job-seeking as they are job-creating. The same is true for those of vocational and technical educational backgrounds.
\nVocational and technical skills have an important role to play in Africa\u2019s future, so we must take education for these skills seriously. There are, and will be, many opportunities for people in Africa to prosper by pursuing this if they so choose. Because at the end of the day, what is development, if not to enable people the freedom to pursue their aspirations and ambitions and contribute to society through public and private pursuits?<\/p>\n
Dr Gwamaka Kifukwe is a programme coordinator for sustainable development at Uongozi Institute. You can read more of his articles in Uongozi Institute\u2019s blog: www.uongoziblog.wordpress.com.<\/p>\n
Source: The Citizen\/News
\nhttps:\/\/www.thecitizen.co.tz\/News\/1840340-3368994-k55lm2z\/index.html<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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