Veta wants collaboration with industries in training graduates

Dar es Salaam. Vocational Education and Training Authority (Veta) has urged industries in the country to collaborate with it in ensuring that they offer on-the-job training to fresh graduates.

Veta wants this collaboration to be undertaken under its Dual Apprenticeship programme in order to enhance employability of vocational graduates.

Apprenticeship Training is a form of skills development by which young people acquire skills of a trade while working in an enterprise for a significant period of time. It usually includes some form of a contractual agreement between the apprentice and the employer.

The Dual Apprenticeship Project Consultant Mr Ahmed Athuman, said that lack of relevant practical skills amongst graduates has been one of the reasons for youth unemployment in the country.

He was speaking during the opening of an Electrical and Automotive stakeholder`s workshop in which participants discussed the dual apprenticeship training system with the aim of discussing and sharing experience on implementation of the programme being executed in partnership between Veta and Hamburg Chamber of skilled crafts.

Mr Athuman said: “The apprenticeship training was an excellent system for bridging the practical skills gap as it directly links the trainee with the workplace and is to a large extent based on practical on the job training, producing skills that are relevant and demand driven.”

Project Manager from Hamburg Chamber of Skilled Craft Mr Martin Mac Mahon, said that the system enables the apprentices to graduate while equipped with relevant practical skills with the understanding of the real working environment and ethics.

“I urge more industries to participate and commit themselves to implementating the project which at the end of the day benefits most industries in the country by getting the workforce they need for enhancing their industrial productivity,” he said. Currently there are 41 companies in the automotive, electrical and hospitality industries which are partnering with Veta in implementing the programme.

The Veta Project Coordinator Mr Francis Komba said that the project has a total of 120 apprentices in three sectors of Automotive, Electrical and Hospitality in two batches. According to Mr Komba, a total of 48 apprentices in first batch will be graduating on May, 2016.