UMA wants funds invested in skiling graduates deducted

EDUCATION|GRADUATES|SKILLED LABOUR

The Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) has asked the Government to consider the funds companies invest in equipping fresh graduates and interns with the required skills to cope in the workplace, as a tax-deductible expenditure.

UMA executive director Daniel Birungi said this will incentivise more companies to take on graduates with no job experience and train them so as to boost the needed skills in the country.

This would mean that if a company was supposed to pay tax worth sh100m, it would be less by the money it invested in equipping graduates with skills.

Birungi made the remarks during the High Education Science and Technology (HEST) project closure and sustainability launch. He said the demand for skilled labour in Uganda's manufacturing sector is high.

He said manufacturers spend between three months to a year, on average, reorienting graduates for the needs of a particular sector. This cost, he added, is an inhibitor for companies to employ graduates, who, in most cases, leave institutions of higher learning with theoretical knowledge.

Birungi said the project presented an opportunity for UMA to contribute towards skilling graduates and reducing youth unemployment through provision of suitable internship opportunities.

He said Uganda experiences an increasing rate of unemployment, which has been particularly attributed to the mismatch between the skills imparted to graduates and those required by the labour market.

"Over 200,000 graduates are released to the market annually, yet only 9,000 can be absorbed. This leaves a huge number of unemployed graduates. This calls for action into increasing the knowledge in entrepreneurship skills and employability across the region. An intervention by the education ministry, African Development Bank (AfDB) and UMA was established to partly address this problem," Birungi said.

About the project

The HEST project was implemented by UMA, in partnership with the education ministry with support from AfDB.

The project co-ordinator, Allan Ssenyodwa, said it seeks to, among others, improve the skills of science and technology students from the nine benefiting institutions and to reduce the cost of expatriate labour in industries.

The institutions include Kyambogo University, Busitema University, Makerere University, Gulu University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Lira University, Muni University, Uganda Management Institute and Makerere University Business School.

While the target was to place 2,000 graduates, it overshot it by 1,445 to 3,445. A total of 5,502 students - 3,524 males and 1,974 females - were recommended and trained in companies.

They were trained in soft skills, including report writing, effective communication, teamwork, creativity and innovation and problem solving. They were also trained in hard skills, such as information technology, engineering, agriculture and personal finance.

The inducted interns were placed for between three to six months all year-round based on the demand of companies.

The UMA training manager, Joseph Kyalimpa, commended AfDB for funding the project.

He urged the education ministry to mainstream the internship programme into the annual government budget, so that there is no reliance on projects to fund such training. In addition to HEST, UMA has also been running the Ready-to-Work internship programme, in partnership with Absa Bank.

We will support - Education Ministry

The education ministry permanent secretary, Alex Kakooza, said the programme has built a bridge between education and the world of work, opening doors for graduates.

He noted that for some time, Uganda's skills training system attracted a lot of public criticism for being detached from the realities of the world of work it serves, but such a programme provides an answer.

"For the past 10 years, skills development has gained prominence for its potential to ignite economic growth. It is now clear that investment in skills development is investment in wealth and the Government is committed to ensuring that appropriate skills are developed to stir the country to the middle income status," Kakooza said.

He pledged the ministry's support to ensure that graduates enjoy a smooth transition into the world of work by allocating some resources towards the project.

Kakooza noted that appropriate human resources is important to the development of the different sectors of the economy.

Industrialization

UMA executive director Daniel Birungi said Uganda can only achieve its industrialisation focus of the National Development Plan if the right skill sets are available. This will drive innovation, technological advancement and drive its ability to grow production to not only self sustenance, but also for export.

Birungi appealed to the education ministry to introduce soft skills training in institutions and undertake a curriculum review to ensure co-current training and placement. She said this will impact on the success of teaching and that of graduates cannot be over emphasised.