The Benefits of Technical and Vocational Education in Africa

Title: The Benefits of Technical and Vocational Education in Africa.

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Author: T.V.E. in Africa (2014)

For years, African societies have followed a basic formula: University education equals success. Any other occupation—such as welding, carpentry, plumbing, or electrical work—was regarded as a close second to higher education, and was considered an alternative for "failures" to attend college.

This way of thinking is no longer relevant. It's costing us our future.

The continent has millions of university graduates with noble degrees and no work experience. Meanwhile, businesses are seeking technicians, mechanics, and skilled tradespeople capable of constructing, fixing, and maintaining things.

It's time to redefine success. Time to accept Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) .

The following are the indisputable advantages of TVET to Africa's youth and economy.

 1. Direct Path to Employment

The biggest challenge for African youth is the waiting time. Once you finish, you wait for callbacks, you wait for interviews, you wait for "something to come up.

Most of the waiting is done away with in TVET.

Vocational training is industry-led training. Students learn just what employers are seeking today. A 15-year-old boy or girl who has finished a six-month program to work with solar panels or heavy-duty diesel engines doesn't have to pray for a miracle. They're skilled at something that somebody is prepared to pay for now.

TVET graduates are still working while their university counterparts are still looking for jobs.

 2. Entrepreneurship and Self-Reliance

University how to do what others want. Vocational education is education for working on your own.

Think about it, if an economics graduate were to have no degree, no job, no office, and no bank, he or she would be incapable of succeeding. However, all a trained hairdresser requires are a chair, scissors and a mirror. A small table and basic equipment is required for a phone repair technician.

TVET produces entrepreneurs. In Africa, market women, phone repair kiosk owners and electricians who fix cars for a living are not waiting for government jobs.In Africa, a phone repair service owner, market woman, a car repair electrician are not waiting for government jobs. They set up their own micro-businesses on their own hands.

If you have a skill, you will never be without work. There is always a service that you could do in return for making money.

 3. Addressing Africa's infrastructure deficit

The construction industry in Africa is in full swing. New roads, hospitals, housing estates, renewable energy plants are all springing up around the world. Who shall construct them, however, who shall construct them? Who will take care of them?

Skilled workers in Africa are becoming too scarce to sustain its operations and China and Europe are stepping in to fill the void with their own skilled workers.

Plumbers, tilers, electricians and painters are essential for any housing development. Technicians are required in all solar farms. All the factories have to have machine operators.

Technical and vocational education is NOT lesser education. It is the backbone of national development. The best architectural plans in the world, will never come to fruition, without skilled tradesmen.

 4. Greater earning potential (Yes, Really)

There is a myth that vocational jobs do not pay well. This is seldom the case.

A construction-site welder could make as much or more as an entry level office manager. A foreman is worth more than a trainee Bookkeeper. It's so hard to locate a reliable plumbing or electrical contractor in many cities in Africa that they can charge you what they want.

Scarcity creates value. There is a lower number of young people wanting to do vocational training and those that do want to are in great demand. They don't have to out-race thousands of other applicants. They are being headhunted.

 5. Entry into the workforce at a quick pace.

It normally takes 4-5 years to get a university degree. The time it takes for a vocational certificate varies between six months and two years.

Those are years that are important to a young person from a low-income family. Youth can leave poverty quicker by undertaking TVET. They can begin contributing to their education, save for even more education later, and even begin saving for their future families.

Time is a resource. Vocational education honors that time because it eschews all the theory and concentrates solely on real-world, money-making skills.

 With this comes a sense of dignity and national pride.

The psychological aspect is probably the least recognised. It's in the hands, there's lots of dignity in being able to fix something or build something or make something work.

There's been too much stigma surrounding manual work. We let our children know that they have failed if they don't become doctors or lawyers. This has produced a generation that is too scared to get its hands dirty.

Which is more useful to a community: a struggling political science graduate and taxi driver, or a certified refrigeration technician that maintains vaccines at the local clinic?

TVET brings dignity by bringing the message that all honest work has value to the fore. It tells young Africans that they're not to be respected if they don't wear a suit and tie.

 A Challenge to Parents and Policymakers.

As parents, you should stop pushing all children up to the University gated. Encourage your child to do more if they like to work with things, fix things, and build things. A technical skill is not a consolation prize, it's a lifeline.

It is now time for policy makers to invest TVET properly. Build modern workshops. Train instructors. Engage private business to provide apprenticeships. Last but not least, conduct campaigns to eliminate the stigma on professional work.

 The skilled has the future.

There is no need for additional unemployed graduates in Africa. Africa requires electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics, masons and other technicians. Africa requires problem solvers with the ability to construct and fix.

TVET is a quicker, more cost-effective and sometimes more effective alternative to the university route of escaping poverty than university education. It generates job makers, not job takers.

Do not underestimate the value of the trades. Let's celebrate the hands that build the continent.

Why not have a look at a vocational route? Write your narrative or inquiries about the tale in the comments.

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