Review vocational skills training
As the 2013 International Youth Day approaches on August 12, it is important to reflect on issues that are affecting the youth in Malawi.
On the endless list of challenges facing the youth, unemployment stands out. There are several factors that one can attribute to as a cause of unemployment, the major one of course being our fragile economy. The number of graduates tired of job hunting in the cities has sky-rocketed to levels of serious concern. For most young people the situation has become so hopeless.
The issue of unemployment is even worsened by the fact that most graduates or students are engulfed with the syndrome of ‘job seeking’ rather than ‘job creation’. Is the problem the nature of the education that they receive or the nature of the students they are? Well, that is a debate for another day.
The most important question that one ought to ask is how the problem of youth unemployment can be mitigated? Recently, I was privileged to attend a Youth Conference in Lilongwe. Organised by the Youth for Peace and Development (Ypad), Teveta, National Youth Council (NYC), the Ministry of Youth and other stakeholders too many to capture here. It was a wonderful event graced by high ranking government officials. What caught my eye or ear rather was the theme of the conference: “Relevant Technical and Vocational Skills Development for Sustainable Social-Economic Growth in Developing Countries”.
The conference made me realise that apart from the mainstream university education that everyone craves for, there is another option that my fellow youth currently in secondary schools can perhaps take advantage of. However, two vital questions come to mind. The first is if the students in secondary schools know about these ‘vocational skills training programmes’. From what I gather the number of students who are aware of these programmes leaves a lot to be desired.
Being a young man myself, I remember to have completed my whole secondary education without hearing a word about this. This simply unveils the fact that vocational skills programmes are poorly promoted.
The other issue is whether the current ‘vocational skills programmes’ are attractive, appealing or relevant to the people who are privileged to know about them. The vocational skills programmes that we are currently offering are the usual bricklaying, welding, carpentry and knitting courses etc.
Not to be misconstrued, it must be understood that the particular crafts currently being offered are important in their own right. It is high time we realised that times have changed. We need to make our vocational skills training programmes relevant and attractive. If that is done, more youth will have an interest in taking up such challenges.
I applaud the efforts of Ypad, Ministry of Youth, NYC and Teveta for organising the conference. The conference is a preamble for an International Youth Forum bearing the same theme that will be hosted by Malawi in August coinciding with the International Youth Day. The International Youth Forum will be attended by hundreds of youths from across the globe to share ideas on the relevant vocational skills training.
The author is executive director of Human Rights Eye.
