`Overhaul technical colleges syllabus for job market needs`

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.

The government alone cannot do everything in improving the country’s technical education, thus collaboration with other stakeholders remains important.

Collaboration amongst stakeholders like technical institutions and industries is crucial, taking into account that the two are interdependent, the director affirmed.
“This means that technical institution produce technicians but as industries own technology, the need for the two to work together remains important,” he told the gathering.

Technical vocational education and training is a tool to facilitate the provision of requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to a person in order to make him/her acquire requisite knowledge and skills to attain socio-economic development, he specified.

Stanley Magesa, the project coordinator for the International Labour Organization (ILO), suggested the need for educational institutions to revise training manuals so as to produce capable and quality graduates who can adapt to the competitive labour market.

Tanzania Roads Agency (TANROADS) Arusha Regional Manager, Engineer Deusdedit Kakoko also asked students in all sectors to change mindsets when it comes to employment, saying: “Graduates when they are in colleges can form groups and think of projects after accomplishing their studies.”

Chairperson of the ATC governing board, Suzan Mnafe said: “Right now our graduates are facing stiff competition, whereby those with relevant knowledge, skills and competencies have high chances of securing employment opportunities.”

She aired the need to plug the gap between the type of skills and competencies demanded by industry and what graduates can offer.

ATC principal Dr. Richard Masika said the college has forged links with PUM Netherland experts to implement an academic capacity building project, under the program “Towards a practical oriented education programme for technicians.”