Build careers on integrity and use your hands to earn, graduates urged

MPIGI - The Executive Director of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council has urged technical graduates to build their careers on integrity and honesty, support the country’s industrialisation, and start enterprises using the skills they have acquired.

“The skills you have acquired are intended to improve the quality and relevance of training, support industrialisation, and ensure that you can secure employment or start enterprises. As our manufacturing and industrial sectors expand, go out there and make fruitful use of the skills you have acquired," Moses Kasakya, the TVET executive director, told the graduates.

Rebecca Natukunda, the Manager Standards and Compliance at TVET.

Kasakya made the remarks Friday (October 30th) as he presided over the 4th graduation ceremony of Hope Vocational and Technical Institute (HVTI) at Watoto Childcare Ministries in Kiringente Sub-County, Mpigi District, in a speech read by Rebecca Natukunda, the Manager Standards and Compliance at TVET, who represented him in his absence.

Kasakya said technical skills should be used to improve society rather than to contribute to its problems, insisting that graduates were fully equipped with competencies on which they will depend for employment, self-employment and productivity.

“I also want to congratulate the graduates for taking on TVET. Personally, I am a TVET product; I started with a Diploma and proceeded with a degree, but someone may not be interested in pursuing a degree; it depends on somebody’s priorities. The point I’m making is that starting with a Diploma, or a certificate is not really a disadvantage; it is actually an opportunity because there are more hands-on skills on the market than there are office positions in our country as a developing nation.

So, I want to encourage the graduates, parents and guardians to enrol their learners or children into the TVET system because it is not a disadvantage; it is not a marginalised area, but it is a choice, and in one way or the other, it helps your children to be able to tap into opportunities and earn a standard of living,” Natukunda remarked as she spoke to the press at the sidelines of the graduation ceremony, urging parents and students to embrace TVET.

Create opportunities, bless others

The HVTI Chancellor, Pastor Edward Mwesigye, also a Pastoral Team Leader at Watoto Church, congratulated the graduates, and encouraged them to not spend their lives waiting for someone else to create opportunities for them, but instead find out what is needed and what problems they can solve.

“Look around you. What needs can you meet? What problems can you solve? What can you build, repair, design or create? Some of you will find employment, others will start businesses, and some will become employers and create opportunities for many more people, but whatever path you take, do not despise small beginnings.

You may start with one customer, one tool, one sewing machine, one small workshop or one simple idea, but start where you are, with what you have, and remain faithful in the little things, and as God blesses the work of your hands, remember those who are still struggling. Extend a helping hand, mentor someone, create an opportunity, and share what you have learned,” Mwesigye informed the graduates.

The HVTI Chancellor, Pastor Edward Mwesigye said their graduates were dependable, hardworking, innovative and committed to excellence, insisting that, “Our desire is that whenever an employer encounters an HVTI graduate, they will confidently say, here is someone we can trust.”

Uncertainty, carried burdens

The Chancellor told graduates he knew about some of their stories as they moved at HVTI with uncertainty about their future, with some carrying burdens at home that others knew nothing about, with some facing moments of discouragement and wondering whether they would ever make it to graduation.

“But look at you now! You stand before us as trained chefs, tailors, electricians, mechanics, builders and designers, equipped with skills that can transform your lives and the communities around you. Your stories remind us of an important truth: God does not require a perfect beginning to write a beautiful story,” stressed Mwesigye.

He added that their graduates were dependable, hardworking, innovative and committed to excellence, insisting that, “Our desire is that whenever an employer encounters an HVTI graduate, they will confidently say, here is someone we can trust.”

The best student, Charles Kevin Kabuga, with HVTI Chancellor, Pastor Edward Mwesigye.

We equip learners with skills, knowledge capacities

Raymond Fred Buyinza, the HVTI Principal, revealed that the institution trains and equips learners with skills and knowledge capacities to be godly transformation leaders in society both nationally and globally.

"The new academic courses and curricula that are already developed and more in the development pipeline to relate to the existing employer needs and marketplace are a bolster to narrow and close the unemployment gap that the country is grappling with, but also deal with the threat or risk of irrelevance in this ever-changing environment.

I applaud you, our regulators, greatly on this milestone achieved. Graduands, diligently look around your communities to identify needs that require the skills you have acquired, develop solutions, start small where necessary, work with others and build your experience to improve your service," Buyinza advised the graduands.

Best graduates speak out

The best student among the 164 graduates, Charles Kevin Kabuga, who attained a certificate in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), attributed his success to what he termed his consistency and passion for what he was studying.

Patricia Charity Ado, who graduated with a National Certificate in Hotel Management, said she learnt several skills but was passionate about baking and was looking forward to beginning a bakery business with unique tasty cakes to serve her customers.