Comfort Yakubu
Globally, Technical, Vocational Education and Training ( TVET) appears to be one of the most sustainable solutions to the ever expanding unemployment market.This may have informed why stakeholders are constantly engaging in advocacy aimed at popularizing and also making it more acceptable to people of all ages.Victor Chinagorom Ezenwa, a Gender and Disability Inclusion Expert is one of such Stakeholders.
Comfort Yakubu
Ezenwa, who also has relevant experiences in gender mainstreaming and inclusion of children and persons with disabilities in technical and vocational education, has provided more insight on the importance of TVET.
Ezenwa has a keen interest in TVET and has always used every available opportunity to talk about the enormous benefits embedded in it. His experiences, in no small measure had established his credibility in talking about Vocational and Technical Education.
Peeping into his brief profile; he said ” I have an academic background in International Relations. Still, I have received training under the EU VET Toolbox Project with a focus on private sector involvement in VET and Labour market activities and the inclusion of disadvantaged groups in formal and non-formal VET.
” I am keen on seeking to identify gaps and support teams in ensuring programmes are gender-sensitive at a minimum and gender transformative wherever possible and accessible and meaningfully engaging for people living with disabilities (PWDs)”.With an undying passion, he has further provided more understanding on the meaning of TVET.
“According to the UNESCO-UNEVOC’s TVETipedia online Glossary, TVET is “Technical and vocational education and training.” TVET is understood as comprising education, training and skills development relating to a wide range of occupational fields, production, services and livelihoods.”He confirmed that TVET, is part of lifelong learning that can take place at secondary, post-secondary and tertiary levels.Ezenwa also explained that TVET includes ” work-based education and continuing training and professional development, which may lead to qualifications. ” TVET also consists of a wide range of skills development opportunities attuned to national and local contexts. Learning to learn, the development of literacy and numeracy skills, transversal skills and citizenship skills are integral components of TVET”.As an expert in this field, he has advocated that TVET be made an essential part of school curriculum in Nigeria. He believes that the teeming unemployment population in the country can be drastically reduced with the help of TVET. He said, ” Technical and Vocational and Education and Training (TVET) play vital roles in implementing and promoting sustainable development. TVET institutions are significant suppliers of workforce who will be at the forefront in dealing directly with sustainable issues.” More recently, TVET schools become essential in training and preparing knowledge workers to meet the challenges posed during the transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, with its attendant post-industrial human resource requirements and the changing world of work”. While he urged governments at all levels to give priority attention to the development of TVET, he equally noted that more resources should be devoted for its sustainability. Ezenwa argued that there was a noticeable shortage of skilled workforce in Nigeria, and this could be attributed to prolonged neglect of TVET.
He noted that even in Nigerian schools where vocational and technical education are taught, the desired results have not been produced. This can be proven by the rate at which graduates of tertiary institutions are been rejected in the labour market. Employers of labour at different times had cried out, complaining that many people who claim to have passed through higher institutions of learning were not employable, due to lack of relevant technical skills or even administrative capabilities. ” In Nigeria, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) is the parastatal charged with regulating and promoting TVET in Nigeria. They are to encourage the production of a skilled technical and professional workforce for the development and sustenance of the national economy. ” While they have been working to fulfil this mandate, there is still a critical shortage in the nation’s demand for a skilled workforce. ” As graduates enter the job market, it becomes glaring that they do not possess the relevant skills in demand at that level, and as a result, most stay unemployed.” Unfortunately, most of these graduates, including those who were trained in TVET institution, are not also adequately skilled as artisans who can work as plumbers, electricians, tilers, builders, etc. This, in turn, has led to a significant constraint on the growth and development of our nation.“According to the NBTE, the underlying challenges of TVET includes; Low Societal Recognition – which translates to Low Enrolment and Shortage in Skilled Workforce, Obsolete Instructional Facility, Inadequate Funding, Poor Staffing, Poor Linkages with Industry and General Deficiency in Quality. In addition, evaluation in most sectors of our education framework tends to be by conventional examinations, which generally does not make enough allowance for practical’s – which is critical to TVET”.He was emphatic in pointing out that when Nigeria’s progress in developing TVET is compared to that of other countries, the government has not done enough.
” In comparison to other climes, Germany, for instance, which has one of the most successful VET models globally, I really do not think that the Government is doing enough”.Ezenwa clearly pointed out, that considering the importance of TVET in solving life’s problems, there should not be demographic demarcation when opportunity for it comes.According to him, TVET can be developed both as formal or informal system, where all categories of people can benefit from.” In Nigeria, we have formal and non-formal TVET Systems. While the former includes all TVET institutions, such as polytechnics and monotechnics, the latter focuses on any organised educational activity and training outside the established formal system that is, intended for specific objectives and to serve the identifiable clientele.” There is no specific category of persons that should opt for TVET. The formal and non-formal system accommodates everyone in society, including ‘learned’ and ‘unlearned’ persons, males and females, and persons living with disabilities (PWDs).” Under the non-formal system, courses in Arts and Crafts, Fabrication and Welding, Livestock Management, etc., are taught to adults, adolescents, and young school leavers outside the organised formal education system.
However, gender inequality in TVET has been a long-term problem in Nigeria. The majority of students who enrol in TVET programmes are males, with less than 40% of the total enrolment in TVET being females. This is also the case for PWDs. Hence more should be done to encourage the participation of women and PWDs in TVET”.
Having stated that the vocational and technical schools in the country were ill-equipped to produce the desired workforce needed to bridge existing gap in all sectors, the expert has urged stakeholders to advocate for the establishment of special TVET Schools. In his opinion, having well-funded TVET Centre across the country, would greatly help in tackling the growing unemployment. “TVET plays a vital role in the national economy, especially in training a skilled workforce, entrepreneurship development, and poverty reduction.“The growing problem of youth unemployment in Africa is a significant concern of many governments.“According to recent estimates by the World Bank, more than 10 million young Africans, often poorly skilled, leave the school system every year searching for jobs in local employment markets that are not expanding fast enough to create jobs. Many of these job seekers lack the requisite skills employers want.“Without employment-related skills, school leavers cannot benefit from even the minimal employment opportunities available to job seekers.“Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is the most practical avenue for acquiring readily employable skills for the world of work”.
