Vocational skills way to go - govt

Kampala.

The State minister for Higher Education, Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo, has called for concerted efforts to popularise vocational courses, saying it is the only way government can fight unemployment among the youth.

Mr Muyingo said Uganda’s job market is rapidly undergoing a renaissance and those without hands on skills will find it hard to get jobs despite possessing academic qualifications.

“Vocational training is no longer an option but a choice. Whoever fails to grab this opportunity today and get employable skills, will suffer in the near future. That is why we now ask the church and other religious denominations to help us allocate part of the tithe towards vocational training,” he said.

The minister made the appeal yesterday while releasing the 2014 modular assessment results conducted by the Directorate of Industrial Training under the non-formal training programme.

Mr Muyingo was responding to a concern raised by Prof Eriabu Lugujjo, the chairperson Industrial Training Council, who said skills development is the least funded component of education yet it offers ready employment. Of the 14,171 candidates assessed in various disciplines, a total of 13,445 passed the examinations.

The performance tests conducted covered 159 modules from 80 occupations practised in four economic sectors, including agriculture, construction, manufacturing, tourism and hospitality.

Prof Lugujjo said government still has an uphill task of reversing the pyramid for human capital in the country where theory-based learning graduates are now outnumber crafts persons.

“What we need is 20 crafts persons for every graduate. It can only be done if emphasis is put on vocational education,” he added.

The Numbers
87%
Percentage of candidates who passed the 2014 modular assessment examinations conducted by the Directorate of Industrial Training under the non-formal training programme.