Why govt should fund vocational and technical institutions

EDUCATION

By Stephen Nuwagira

There is a need for the government to fund private technical and vocational training institutions to enable them to deliver the necessary education that produces manpower with hands-on practical skills. 

According to visiting vocational and technical education expert, Mart van den Berg, from PUM, a department of the Netherlands Employers Association, government support is essential to gradually equip and improve vocational institutions to boost their training, noting that the current trend requires more people with hands-on skills to drive growth of small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and job-creation.

The expert added that government funding was necessary to strengthen and enhance vocational training in Uganda, explaining that in the Netherlands, it is the government that pays salaries of workers employed by private technical and vocational institutions. 

Mart van den Berg is currently on a working visit at Ibanda Farm Institute in Ibanda district to assess its management systems and production processes and make recommendations of how the institution can improve to provide world-class vocational and technical training. The institution is run and was started by the Catholic Church. 

PUM is that is represented in many countries across the world including Uganda. The association provides companies, organisations, and institutions with technical support in different fields to help them improve their processes or production methods. 

"Technical and vocational schools support government goals by producing skilled manpower that is crucial for the country's development needs. So the government should invest in these institutions to enable them equip learners with relevant market-oriented skills and training," he said, adding that this funding to private technical institutions could depend on the enrollment. 

Skilling Uganda

The government's skilling Uganda strategic plan for 2011 - 2020 seeks to create a paradigm shift for skills development in Uganda, enhance productivity and growth with the main purpose of creating employable skills and competencies relevant in the labour market.

"Therefore, it is important that private technical institutions are supported to help the country deliver this goal," said Josephat Bainomugisha, the principal, Ibanda Farm Institute. 

He said PUM connects some of the institute's graduates to get jobs, adding that last year the association helped 12 students to secure jobs with UN agencies as junior technical staff. 

Mindset change

The educators also called on the government to work with vocational and technical institutions and sensitise Ugandans about the relevance and importance of acquiring hands-on practical education. They said most Ugandans still look at vocational and technical education as of less value compared to an academic oriented type of education. 

Mart van den Berg said the perception among the public that demeans vocational and technical education overshadows its role in national development, noting that the country needed innovators and entrepreneurs that could help stem its huge import bill. He observed that government's Operation Wealth Creation programmes can easily be delivered by technical school' graduates who start-up SMEs to create new jobs and spur earnings compared to varsity graduates. 

"Ugandans should understand that technical education and academic type of education are all crucial for a developing country like Uganda. The current world trend in job market requires people that know how to work with their hands and create new things," he said in an interview in Ibanda on July 25.