Mismatch between school curriculum and market demand – Museveni

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said there is a mismatch between the school curriculum and the demands of the job market. This he says has created a skills gap among the young people in Uganda.

Museveni says science courses have a high demand in the job market yet only a few students opt for such compared to the Arts courses.

He says he recently learnt that Makerere University has 36000 admitted students, but only 10,000 of these offer science courses.

Museveni says this is why there is need to offer skills training to youths such that they can be employed despite studying less marketable courses.

The President was today speaking from Nakasero State Lounge in a televised launch of the Young Africa Works Strategy of the MasterCard Foundation. The strategy outlines how, over the next decade, the foundation will focus on finding solutions to the youth employment challenge and reducing poverty in Africa.

According to the 2016/17 Uganda National Household Survey conducted by Uganda Bureau of Statistics, unemployment rate for youth aged 18 – 30 is 13.3%.

Museveni says sleeping is part of the reason there is still unemployment in Uganda. He says people are working for the stomach despite the good land and favorable conditions in the country. He says in the end, we have sufficient food in homes but there is a shortage of money.

He urged commercial farming and buying Ugandan and African products as a way to generate more employment opportunities.

Reeta Roy, the President of the MasterCard Foundation says they will invest 200 million dollars (about Shillings 740 billion) in three million young people in Uganda as they implement this strategy.

The strategy designed to last 10 years targets skilling young people extending and connecting them to opportunities in the digital and financial world.  More than 70% of the beneficiaries shall be women. The program has a bias to agriculture, technology, construction and tourism.

Reeta Roy says they will align their programs with the National Development strategies of the country.

Patrick Bitature, the Chairman of Simba Telecom says there is a lot of unharnessed potential among the young people in Uganda. He says there is talent in them that can be groomed to make the majority population a dividend rather than a disaster.

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