The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government is considering scrapping tuition fees and entry qualifications for students offering lower or certificate courses in Technical and Vocational Education and Training-TVET institutions.
Although there are other factors like learners’ and parents’ attitudes undermining blue-collar jobs, compounded by restrictive admission entry requirements, high costs of learning at this level have been knocking out many Ugandans.
Janet Kataha Museveni, the Minister of Education and Sports notes that although they have been trying to popularize TVET with an aspiration of having at least one institute in each district, the facilities are grossly underutilized.
“TVET remains Uganda’s number one gateway towards building a skilled workforce for success of key sectors of the economy. Uganda continues to be an attractive location for investment in oil and gas, tourism and hospitality, real estate, ICT among others in the region…NRM is going to deal with this underutilization by waiving of tuition for certificate BTVET courses,” the minister noted in her paper presented to the sector during the celebration of ten years of Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board-UBTEB.
Besides waving off tuition for the lower certificates, the minister also said that they are exploring the option of admitting willing learners regardless of previous qualifications or education background which has also been a barrier to many.
Previously, enrolling for TVET courses, there have been requirements ranging from primary leaving certificate and Uganda certificate of education depending on the level of training one would like to pursue.
However, under new guidelines, admission to TVET institutions has been opened to all Ugandans, regardless of the age, with or without formal education replacing the old process where admission was restricted to Primary Seven, Senior Four, and Senior Six leavers.
In a recent interview, Loy Muhwezi, the Commissioner Technical, Vocational Education and Training -TVET Operations and Management at the education ministry, said that the new changes mean that every person with informal, non-formal, and formal education can now be admitted provided the recognition of prior learning and knowledge has been done and proven by the selection team.
According to the guidelines, interested learners with no formal education qualifications plus Primary leaving examinations-PLE certificate holders (regardless of their scores) will be directly eligible to join skills development centers including technical schools, community polytechnics, and vocation training centers.
To further simplify the matter, UBTEB has rolled out the modularized assessment to enable high accessibility and flexibility in training and obtaining desired skills by a wider section of Ugandans.
Kasule Lumumba, the Minister in charge of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, says that with entry requirements scrapped, the ministry should also look into the language of instruction.
Lumumba says that government should as well look into the possibility of availing tool kits to every learner produced.To her, if all government poverty alleviation programs are streamed to this, they can make more impact.
Muhwezi says that for the ministry to implement and have timely deliverance of all the desired TVET reforms, there is a need to increase funding to this sub-sector.
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