Focus on vocational education - UPC

The Uganda People's Congress (UPC) has called upon the Ministry of Education to review the current education syllabus and come up with a new one that ‘takes into account the needs of the country's economy.'

The party believes that as a country, there is need to harmonize the relationship between education and employment as a way of creating more employment opportunities among the citizens.

"We may take children to school but there is a gap between the number being employed and  the opportunities we prepare for them after they have finished school," said Michael Osinde, the party's spokesperson.

"Our economy today has issues to do with both people that attended school up to a certain level and those who completed university. It is our considered opinion that the minister focuses specifically on the aspect of vocational training because it will help especially those who could not complete education at some level yet they could be useful citizens," he added.

This was during the weekly press briefing at the party headquarters at Uganda House in Kampala.

During the launch of the final results of the national housing and population census last year, the census results indicated that 58% of Ugandans are not working for reasons other than pursuing studies which, according to the report, captures the country's non-utilized labour potential.

From the age 24, at a time when most people are expected to be graduating from universities, the employment curve sharply goes up. The age category 20 to 24 has 65% of its members unemployed.

This means that 11.8m youths, most of them straight from university and other tertiary institutions have a problem getting employment.  For those above 25 years, the situation is worse, with over 90% of them unemployed.

The party believes that more focus should be placed on the teaching of practical skills as opposed to the current emphasis on theoretical courses. This should be from primary to tertiary level.

"Theoretical courses are good but we need hands on, we need practical skills, this will help fight the current unemployment," Osinde said.