The State Minister for higher Education John Chrystestom Muyingo has called upon all school heads and teachers to guide their pupils in considering vocational skills saying that with these skills, there will be less unemployment levels in the country.
Muyingo said this at the release of 2018 Polytechnic Certificate results at Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board today 5th February 2019. He said “If children who finish primary Seven are advised to choose Vocational and technical education, they will be having skills in three years and will be ready to join the work world”
Ugandans have over the years regarded University as the best option for higher learning only going for vocation institutes as the last option and also leaving them out for students who could not afford paying for University. But on the contrary after university, these same students suffer with unemployment yet those who opted for vocation skills are either self employed or get jobs immediately.
Highlighting the Government’s move to promote vocational education, Muyingo also said that parents should not consider technical institutions as last resort for students who fails exams and that they should take this as one of the ways to reduce on the number of university graduates who loiter for a long time looking for jobs.
Out of 4,126 students that sat the examinations in 79 centres, 3,317 (80.4%) successfully completed their programmes and can proceed to the world of work for Apprenticeship or join the National Certificate level.