Parents urged to vet institutions before enrolling children

Parents have been cautioned to stop enrolling their children into vocational institutions that are not recongised by government.

Dr Robert Joseph Jjumba, chairman of YMCA, said that many mushrooming institutions which do not have licenses and are not recognised by government have half-baked graduands.

He explained this has led to huge expenses from parents and also many failures which have highly contributed to unemployment among the youth.

"Many institutions have come up and are not recognised by government and yet attract huge numbers of students due to cheaper costs and the promise of sponsorships in disguise. We believe this has highly contributed to the increasing cases of students' failure and inability to find employment," he said.

He explained that it is due to the huge demand for education from youths countrywide which has prompted them to open up two institutions awarding degrees in Kampala and Buwabwe.

Dr Jjumba (right) flanked by other YMCA officials at the ceremony. Photo by Doreen Musingo

He said this will meet the prevailing global changes to meet the United Nations development goals whereby within the next 25 years, there will be a high demand for employment from both the formal and informal sectors.

He urged parents to task school owners to show licenses from the government before enrolling their children in such institutions.

He made the remarks during the 17th graduation ceremony of YMCA Jinja branch over the weekend where a total of 615 students graduated in various disciplines.

Jjumba said he was impressed by the high number of females who graduated. 88% of the graduands were female and he said they will contribution towards the empowering the girl child greatly.

He said out of 700,000 Ugandans who enter the job industry annually, only 9000 get employed upon completion of studies.