Embrace vocational education

We are excited that the Primary Leaving Exams results are out. We know you and your teachers and parents went through a lot to achieve this. We are so proud of those who used their acquired knowledge, skills and God’s guidance to excel. And at this point let me sympathise with those who excelled with any sort of malpractice. You are the true meaning of corruption, I hope it does not end in tears.

 To the teachers whose pupils excelled because you taught them well, may the Almighty God bless you, and bless you abundantly. And those teachers who rushed to give their pupils any sort of ‘bullets’ so that they obtain aggregate 4, or 5, thank you for ruining the intellectual property of our children, and more so their future. Thank you for opening to them the extra syllabus on corruption at a tender age.

 Dear parents, irrespective of what your children have scored, Uganda needs engineers, scientist, doctors, nurses, economists, social workers, community developers, accountants, etc. and all are very important.

 At this point, I want to shift your attention to vocational training and I need us to consider this seriously.

 Training an engineer will take you 10 years before they get to Bachelors level. Both through A- Level education and through, junior technical, craft, advanced, diploma and then degree.

 Now a P.7 leaver who goes for junior technical will gain the necessary skill to start supporting themselves partly or fully in the three years. Some will never again need parental support to further their education.

 Among these pupils, very aggressive ones will become entrepreneurs holding big construction companies that will employ hundreds including those who go to A-Level and returns after finishing the 10 years of study. Remember they have only used three/10years (seven years is a big gap you shouldn’t ignore). What will even surprise you most is their level of expertise, hands-on experience and quality of work.

 Just support this young girl or boy to upgrade to a degree level, and you will most likely note the difference. But I assure you that even if they don’t attain a degree, they will be happier and more productive and our country will grow faster with them than jobless graduates. As for me and my family we are already trying these and we are not disappointed. We will soon be giving more testimonies on this.

 Now this brings me to the peasant communities which are the majority in our country. Our education now does not favour a common man, Capitalism has creeped in. We shall be seeing more less skilled graduates due to an education system which may not be tailored to our need for development. These will even be employed more easily. What should a common man do? We should embark on skill acquisition and couple it with education and attitude training that way, we shall beat the capitalists and this is where vocational education will be the answer.

 Lastly, due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, many things seem to be changing in the era of the new normal. It seems those selling skills are thriving much better. More so those being trained in skills seem less affected by these lockdowns. We are not sure how long this will last.

Let us talk about this with our children. Irrespective of their grades, if they show passion for a given skill, then give them opportunity to pursue vocational training.                                                

Joseph Ario                            

Doctor