Making case for skills development

Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education have made education accessible to many; the shift in global economics means government is no longer the largest employer.

Governments are realising the private sector has to be facilitated to grow if real development is to be achieved.

Besides formulating policies to strengthen the private sector, there is need for government to ensure that unemployed youth are facilitated with skills development to provide labour to the private sector. This was highlighted during an international skills development conference at Nakawa Vocational Training Institute in Kampala recently.

The conference, organised by the Belgian Development Agency (BTC), under the theme South-South exchange on best practices for private sector-led change towards sustainable financing and coordination of skills development, brought together skills development specialists from Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Namibia, Belgium, and Japan.

Albert Nsengiyumva, former state minister of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Rwanda, stressed the importance of skills development to a country’s growth. “The market economy is growing rapidly because of emerging sectors, such as, oil and gas, tourism, and manufacturing. These sectors, though, are suffering from lack of skilled manpower.”

Young people need to receive training relevant to the job market. Many university courses offered are no longer viable in the changing global economy. That is why vocational training is becoming relevant because it provides the skilled workers needed by industries.

In 2012, the Education ministry, together with the World Bank and the Kingdom of Belgium, formulated the Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) strategic plan, aptly named ‘Skilling Uganda’ whose objectives are to increase the quality of skills provision and access to skills development.

BTVET has an ambitious plan to enroll 290,000 people in vocational institutes per year. However, unless there is a shift from haphazard training to competency-based training, the graduates churned out will join the masses of unemployed youth.
The private sector should be the key driver in providing market information that will establish occupational standards for particular industries.

According to Ruth Biyinzika Musoke, who heads the Skills Development Facility in Private Sector Foundation-Uganda, now that government is revamping training schools, members of the private sector should be included on the school boards. Government also needs to work out targeted skills development for special interest groups, such as, demobilised soldiers.

Role of the private sector
The private sector is already investing in skills development by providing internship opportunities to students but they need collaboration from government to ensure that the skills taught are relevant. In Ghana, for instance, there is an agency charged with coordinating all technical, vocational education and training activities. Atta Simpson, manager Ghana Skills Development Fund, says, “We have a system where stakeholders set the standards for skills development. The private sector requires a certain level of skills and they communicate this need to training providers, who come up with a syllabus. The partnership benefits all institutions.”