A recent study by a Ghana-based economic research outfit makes yet another persuasive case for African countries to focus more on the development of practical and work-relevant skills through the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions.
Though the study is based on research in six countries (Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Rwanda and Uganda), SA could learn from this work by the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET). Tito Mboweni, former SA finance minister and Reserve Bank governor, was at the time of his death last October the chair of ACET’s board of directors.
Several of ACET’s recommendations are relevant to SA’s TVET system. The main ones are about making curriculum review a process that involves all stakeholders and ensuring that all TVET tracks include 21st-century skills such as entrepreneurship and green and digital abilities. ACET also recommends that the TVET sector should have modular and flexible learning pathways across formal and nonformal systems.
The modular and flexible learning approach is important in a country such as SA where dropout rates in basic education and post-matric education and training are high. In such environments creating pathways for reintegration into the education and training system is crucial.
Among the challenges facing TVETs, the ACET lists funding, poor infrastructure, a shortage of instructors and inadequate professional development, weak alignment between training and labour needs, and social perceptions and cultural expectations. Several studies have identified the same challenges for SA’s TVET colleges.
ACET notes that in Ghana TVET institutions received only 1.9% of the country’s 2022 education budget, far below what they needed to improve their infrastructure and upgrade the skills of their teachers. In Uganda less than 1% of the national budget was allocated to skills training.
TVETs were also saddled with poor infrastructure, including training equipment that was so obsolete that it made no sense to use it to train people who need to join the modern world of work. A total of 93% of Rwandan students reported outdated equipment “as a significant barrier to effective training”.
In Uganda, internet access and regular electricity cuts were a problem, making it difficult to introduce the most modern digital tools to the country’s TVET system.
Then there’s the shortage of instructors, which is also a challenge for most TVET colleges in SA.
The ACET study also lists a weak alignment between what TVETs produce and what employers need. “The weak alignment between training and labour market needs results in significant skills mismatches. In Rwanda, 82% of surveyed stakeholders noted that graduates lack job-ready skills.”
Ghanaian and Ugandan employers complained of “the outdated nature of curricula and weak internship systems”. Only 26% of Uganda’s TVETs reported regular collaboration with employers, which explains the huge gap between what these institutions produce in terms of skills and the skills the labour market requires.
The big hurdles facing TVETs are social perceptions and cultural expectations. Parents and young people look down on vocational training, the view being that a university degree is superior. But a university education isn’t and shouldn’t be for all. That’s why some countries, such as Germany, follow a differentiated approach. They stream students as early as midway through high school into vocational or university education and training.
In Rwanda, 88% of TVET institutions said they were the last resort for students. There would be similar feedback in SA with TVETs being considered the place many students turn to when they have been unable to find a place at a university.
• Sikhakhane, a former spokesperson for the finance minister, National Treasury and SA Reserve Bank, is editor of The Conversation Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
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