Internship programme the right way forward
On Thursday this week, the government formally launches a special scheme that is intended to improve the employability capacity of Tanzanian youth across the board.
Formally known as the National Skills Development (Internship) Programme, the scheme will be used to impart upon our youth skills which are designed to functionally and effectively address the employment/unemployment challenges that are generally associated with mostly lack of hands-on working experience.
For starters, the programme will give practical exposure to fresh graduates from assorted higher-learning institutions across the land. About 800,000 youths are spewed onto the jobs market in Tanzania each year from assorted educational and vocational training institutions, with only about 40,000 jobs openings to scramble for – mostly in a rapidly urbanising scenario.
Tanzania’s youth workforce is 15.7 million-strong: 56 percent of the total manpower – with an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent in 2018.
Under the proposed scheme – which is a joint initiative of the government and employers across the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (Sadc) – graduating youths would be put on a six to 12-month internship during which they would be subjected to intensive acclimatisation that would (hopefully) boost their employability status.
Generally speaking, internships – as distinct from apprenticeships – provide opportunities for potential/prospective employees to acquire practical skills, workplace experience and increased knowledge of a given industry’s activities.
Launching the internship programme conveniently coincides with the March 5-6, 2020 ministerial meeting in Dar es Salaam on labour and employment issues within the Sadc economic bloc. Indeed, the programme is good for both interns and employers. It has already directly benefitted 1,000 youths, while another 5,780 are currently undergoing internships countrywide – with 14,000 on the waiting list.
We believe that the internship programme is the right way forward in seeking to surmount the youth unemployment challenge every which way.
