Tanzania – Technical education doesn’t make graduates create jobs but makes them job seekers

Stakeholders in technical education have challenged the syllabus used in technical colleges, saying it doesn’t make graduates create jobs, but makes them job seekers.

They raised their voices here recently when speaking at a forum geared to forge links between technical and vocational education on one hand and on the other, training institutions and industry.

David Kazuva, the acting technical, vocational education and training director in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training said the type of knowledge and skills acquired makes graduates unable to meet the needs of the skills-based economy.

Addressing academia, industrialists and private employers, he said the time has come for colleges and universities to produce graduates capable of creating jobs and not job seekers.

Organized by the Arusha Technical College (ATC), the one-day forum was also aimed at improving, strengthening and consolidating the collaboration between technical, vocational education and training institutions and industrial stakeholders.

“It is true that this was a socialist-based economy, whereby the economy was monopolized by the state, but now things have changed. We’re currently swimming in a complicated era, where government employment is very limited…so, we need graduates who can establish their own projects, be self-employed, and who at the end of the tunnel create more employment opportunities,” he stated.

The labour market right now is limited so educational institutions should think beyond the normal spectrum.

“As technical institutions, we’re bound to come up with curriculum that will make our students get appropriate and relevant skills that suit needs of employers,” he further asserted…

via Overhaul technical colleges syllabus for job market needs