We should support technical education

The liberalisation of the economy, including the education sector, over three decades ago saw many sectors thrive but some lose out.

There was a time when teaching, business and technical colleges were centres of excellence and not only seen as an alternative to failing to join Makerere University.

When the government liberalised education, private players invested their money in kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary education.

Teaching, business and technical colleges were left in the hands of the government. Many folded or saw their numbers dwindle and the final blow was the closure of primary and national teachers’ colleges.

At this rate, the next victim could be technical colleges if the government doesn’t invest money to walk its talk of promoting technical and vocational courses.

Last week, the Uganda Technical Colleges decried the meagre resources being given in form of capitation grant, citing its inadequacy to cover essential expenses such as meals and training costs.

Mr Milton Mubogwe Kakuba, the acting principal of Uganda Technical College Kichwamba, expressed concern over the current allocation of Shs1, 800 per student per day by the Ministry of Education and Sports.

Mr Kakuba said sustaining an institution with a sizable student population is challenging with the current funding and proposed an increase in the grant to Shs30,000 per student per day.

This is a pullback in the government’s dream of enhancing the skill levels of youths to make them employable. If that is indeed our aim, then we should invest more money in the actual skilling.

In addition, there is a need for further investment in the infrastructure at technical colleges to avail them with the latest technology that will make work more efficient and enable graduates to compete ably beyond our borders.

These job creators like we want them to be must emerge from these temples of learning (read workshops) with the entrepreneurial skills and creative juices we have learnt that the system we inherited from colonialists is no longer working.

All this requires investment to further emphasize how distinct technical education is as professional education as it is designed to equip the graduate to practice authoritatively in such fields as science, engineering, law, or medicine.