Go for marketable skills, Tanzania advised

Dar es Salaam. The United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) country Officer-in-Charge, Mr Axel Plathe, said that without equipping people with marketable skills, they won’t be able to realise the opportunities that modern society presents.

Officiating a two-day validation workshop to conclude the planning phase of the Better Education for Africa’s Rise (BEAR) Phase II project on Thursday, September 28, Mr Plathe said the ever rising number of youth unemployment is a significant problem and thus paying attention to technical and vocational skills can go a long way forwards curbing the problem.

“But this is not only about vocational skills,” said Mr Plathe, “It’s also about transferrable skills such as learning to learn, problem solving and communication and entrepreneurial skills.”

BEAR is a five-year joint initiative supported by Unesco and the Republic of Korea which intends to support technical and vocational education training (TVET) systems.

The workshop, which drew attendance from various education stakeholders including government, NGOs, and embassies, serves as a tool to confirm Tanzania’s state of preparedness for participation in the project as it was not included in the Phase I of the implementation.

It will provide the country with the opportunity to define its detailed action plans under each proposed result and activity.

Speaking on the sideline of the workshop, the National Council for Technical Education’s (Nacte) deputy executive secretary Dr Adolf Rutayaga said that public perception that vocational training was for those who failed needs to change and that people were supposed to know that there’s a big contribution to the national economy from people with vocational skills and work in different skill-oriented jobs.

“As we strive towards an industrial and middle income economy, vocational skills cannot be undervalued. We need to fight hard to make sure that we improve our middle class as they are the ones who can guarantee us the success of our journey,” said Dr Rutayaga.

Three main areas of intervention were discussed in working groups. These are Relevance, Quality and Attractiveness of TVET.