Govt, private sector to foster skills

Dar es Salaam. The government said yesterday it will ensure the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) 2016-2027 and the Education and Skills for Productive Jobs Programme produce the nation’s expected outcomes by including the integration of the private sector in identifying and nurturing local experts.

The two programmes seek to address and possibly end the distressing mismatch between industry demands and market labour supply.

Opening the first National Skills Development Workshop in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, Prof James Mdoe, reaffirmed the government’s determination to work with the private sector in the two programmes and develop a proficient indigenous skilled workforce.

He said African university graduates, on the whole, did not meet labour market benchmarks and called on the private sector to pinpoint recognised weaknesses so that they could be properly addressed.

“The government is keen on the two schemes… (all of us in) the private sector and the government have to ensure young people get requisite skills so that investors have access to the right workers who will enhance productivity. The private sector should tell us through their own councils what they have seen on the ground,” he told the workshop, which was organised by the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TSPF).

Since 2016, Tanzania has been implementing the 12-year NSDS in order to have skilled competitive Tanzanian workforce capable of fostering effectively inclusive and sustainable socio-economic growth.

TSPF executive director Godfrey Simbeye welcomed the government’s position on the two schemes, also saying Tanzanian graduates from tertiary institutions lacked innovation and creativity, hence the importance of ensuring the two schemes succeed.

He said the World Bank had supported the implementation of the national strategy by loaning Tanzania $250 million.

The workshop will help initiate the establishment of a sector skills council to promote public-private sector cooperation in enhancing competitiveness of Tanzania’s workforce.