The education sector will support a new policy to ensure all graduates go through a skills certification before obtaining employment in the country.
This assurance came from education minister Janet Museveni, as she formally released results of the directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) last week.
“It is my conviction that vocational training is the way to go for any country’s growth and development, she said. “It is my mission as minister of Education and Sports, to see that training targets occupations in the labour market to enhance the employability and improved livelihood of Ugandans.”
As a start, she directed the DIT to fast-track certification for those seeking positions in the oil and gas sector, “since 10,000 jobs can be created directly or indirectly during the initial stages of oil extraction in Uganda”.
She indicated that her ministry was working with Uganda National Roads Authority, Kampala Capital City Authority, National Water and Sewerage Corporation and Uganda Manufacturers’ Association to ensure that it becomes mandatory for all business, technical and vocational enterprises in Uganda to employ only certified skilled and competent technicians, craftsmen and artisans.
Museveni explained that in future, having a skilled workers’ certificate will be a prerequisite for the award of contracts to contractors.
In the results released last week, nearly 17,028 candidates passed and obtained certificates in at least 35 occupations, across the country. This compares to 23,368 candidates from 683 assessment centres in 34 occupations in 2015.
Of the 17,028 candidates, 7,220 were assessed on their on-job skills (occupational assessment), while 9,808 were tested for their knowledge of aspects of their jobs (modular assessment).
In her remarks, the director of Industrial Training, Ethel Kyobe, explained that the tourism and hospitality sector registered the highest number of successful candidates at 41 per cent, followed by manufacturing at 40 per cent and construction at 17.9 per cent.
Eastern Uganda registered the highest number of candidates at 56.4 per cent, followed by Northern Uganda at 28.4 per cent. Kyobe also expressed her gratitude to the ministry for finally heeding her call for more funds to make it possible to conclude the backlog of academic transcripts from 2011 to 2015.
“The directorate will make sure that certificates for 2016 are printed and issued by June 30, 2017,” she said.
mtalemwa@observer.ug