Veta boosts the desired skills for job market

It is estimated that over 800,000 youth enter the labour market every year. The number includes school and college graduates with most migrating from rural to urban areas. Over 75 per cent are absorbed in both the formal and informal sectors.

Addressing skills needs the Vocational Education and Training Authority (Veta) is running a year long skills recognition training to identify and award people who have gained skills outside the formal education system with certificates.

In an interview with Saumu Mwalimu of The Citizen, programme coordinator Ally Bwire throws more light on the training.

Question. What inspired Veta to roll out the skills recognition training programme?

Answer. One of the roles of Veta is the provision of Vocational Education Training. The authority adopted the Competence Based Education Training (Cobet). This approach requires Veta to constantly interact with the ‘world of work’. i.e. the labour market.

It is the signals received from the labour market that determine the type and mode of training to be offered at Veta training centres across the country. Data from the labour market reveal that a good number of craftsmen the ages of 18 and 45 year in the country have the required skills but have not gone through formal vocational education system. This group acquired their skills through informal and non-formal learning systems.

Question. How bad is the situation in our labour market?

A. The pace of changing demands of our labour market has stimulated craftsmen across the country to identify and develop specialised skills.

For instance, people no longer take cars to a general motor vehicle mechanists for radiator check ups. You will instead find an individual who has specialised only in car radiators. In a formal learning system, this is considered as a part of cooling system module. The market usually wants services related to small items, say radiators to stand alone. With our specialised programme, part of a module can be assessed and certified. For instance, a craftsman dealing with radiators is free to skip other components of the cooling system module such as water pump systems, thermostats etc).

Question. Are there any statistics to show the actual number people with skills without certificates?

A. The integrated labour force survey of 2014 indicates that percentage of persons employed in the informal sector with certificates stands at 3.3 per cent. However, this does not constitute the total number of craftsmen in the informal sector as a big number of them were not captured.

Question. How many people is this programme targeting?

A. The current programme supported by Prime Minister’s Office (Labour, Youth, employment and People with Disabilities) has a target to assess 3,900 people across the country and will start with five occupations namely motor vehicle mechanics, carpentry and joinery, masonry and bricklaying, food production, food and beverage services. The deadline for submitting applications was 25th January 2017. With reference to samples from selected districts that have already submitted forms – the applications may go up to 20,000 or more. This is again an indication that we have a huge number of skilled craftsmen whose skills are not recognized / certified.

Question. Is, the government industrial vision part of the drive?

A. As mentioned before, Veta started implementing this programme way back in 2010. However, the country’s industrial vision perfectly aligns with it. The authority has developed a database which among other things will be used for tracking talent. The government through this database will be able to identify certified craftsmen and their areas of competencies across the country. So there is no doubt that it is supposedly one of the important programmes for the realisation of the country’s industrial vision.

Question. Will those participating in the training pay anything?

A. With an understanding of the programme’s importance towards the country’s industrialisation strategy, the government has funded the programme and local craftsmen will train free of charge.

Question. How much does Veta and the government intend to spend for this programme?

A. The government has set aside about Sh2 billion to support the activity. But as mentioned before, the demand is high and it is important that all stakeholders, that is, the government, Veta, employers, organizations, craftsmen to join support it.

Question. For how long will the programme run?

A. It is an on-going programme. As long as informal learning systems are there, the need to continually identify, assess and certify skills will be there. However this programme supported by the Prime Minister’s Office will, run for 12 months.

Question. Has Veta run similar trainings programmes before? And if so how did they perform?

A. In 2010 VETA conducted a pilot study in Mtwara, Lindi, Morogoro and Pwani regions. During this phase Veta embarked on efforts to establish standard tools and guidelines to run the programme. The second phase of the pilot study was conducted in Kagera, Mara and Mwanza regions.

In 2015 VETA in collaboration with ILO rolled out the programme and a total of 2,044 craftsmen, 1747 males and 297 females have been assessed in motor vehicle mechanics, carpentry and joinery, as well as masonry and brick laying.

Other occupations are food production, food and beverages.