Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority (Teveta) says it has intensified efforts to equip youths with practical and market-relevant skills as part of a broader push to prepare young people for employment and entrepreneurship.
Teveta spokesperson Carol Magreta said in an interview yesterday that the authority is implementing both formal and informal apprenticeship programmes to expand access and ensure that no one is left behind in acquiring skills.
She said: “The Tevet system has a wide range of programmes that provide training to all, including both formal and informal apprenticeship programmes.
“We have the formal apprenticeship [programme] that trains people with Malawi School Certificate of Education.”
Magreta said Teveta also facilitates informal apprenticeship programmes targetting people with limited or no formal education.
Teveta’s interventions come at a time a new study by the African Centre for Economic Transformation (Acet) is urging African governments to overhaul their technical and vocational education and training systems to bridge the continent’s widening skills gap.
Acet president Kingsley Amoako is quoted in a statement as having said the continent’s demographic dividend can only be realised if countries treat vocational education as a driver of transformation rather than a fallback for academic dropouts.
“We must invest in systems that produce job creators, not job seekers,” he said.
The study, which covered six countries, warns that millions of young Africans risk being excluded from decent work without stronger investment and reform.
The study covered Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.
