The requirement for basic sciences as minimum criteria for joining Vocational Technical Institutions (VTIs) was also scrapped. As Yudaya Nangonzi writes, the revision is also aimed at dealing with underutilization of public business, technical and vocational institutions.
The changes in admission guidelines were announced by Education minister Janet Museveni in a media briefing held at State House in Nakasero last week.
Museveni said the revisions were made to ensure that entry into TVET is based on recognition of prior learning – knowledge and skills the person already has to secure more gainful employment opportunities.
“The changes in requirements have greatly helped to increase the number of admissions in TVET institutions. The increase in students is also largely attributable to the ease of affordable access occasioned by regional institutions as opposed to central posting/admissions that are not sensitive to the economic background of learners,” Museveni said.
Meanwhile, learners who are willing to join these technical and vocational institutions for skill-based courses will also be taught in their local languages.
As provided for under the 2019 TVET policy, the ministry started implementing a decentralized modality for TVET admissions in 2021. The review of requirements was meant to address the underutilization of public TVET institutions so that willing learners, regardless of previous qualifications, are eligible for admission.
Museveni noted that two years later, the review has seen an average increase in admissions by 59 per cent in VTIs and technical schools with an 89 per cent rise in female admissions. The commissioner for TVET at the Education ministry, Loy Muhwezi told The Observer that the relaxation of the entry requirements was in order because they were more academic at the certificate level and not for TVET.
However, this does not mean that people enrolling for diploma courses under TVET should come with passes in Mathematics and English. A diploma person should have a certain percentage of theory and practical skills, make presentations, and supervise people, among other roles.
“It was unfair to subject persons seeking skill-based certificate courses these requirements. People may think that we have lowered the quality by revising the entry requirements but we are instead moving from academic certificates to skills and competencies,” Muhwezi said.
She added: “It doesn’t mean that if you have failed Mathematics in secondary school, you can’t do plumbing or tailoring. I am a mathematician and an engineer who did PCM [Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics] at A-level. The integration and differentiation that I learned in Mathematics have nothing to do with establishing the ratio of sand-to-cement in construction.”
Muhwezi explained that people ought to know trade calculations in TVET. For instance, the Mathematics which a tailor need differs from what a builder or electrical engineer needs. This implies that the basic mathematics that people get at the primary or secondary level is enough to allow them to do the mathematics required in their trade calculations.
For the English language, she said: “I have never seen anywhere that chairs are manufactured in English. The Chinese don’t speak English but have some of the best furniture. Languages have nothing to do with technical skills.”
She insisted that for lower-level skills that are mainly hands-on, people should not be bothered with “complicated things” of English and Mathematics as a requirement.
LIMITED FUNDS
Despite the increasing demand for technical and vocational courses, Museveni said the ministry is financially constrained to complete the various TVET institutions. At least the completion of works in 19 TVET institutions is pending the availability of requisite funds to undertake all the scope of works at each institution.
For now, the ministry completed an infrastructure and equipment needs assessment for 81 out of 142 TVET institutions upon which a concept paper for funding support was submitted to the Finance ministry to source for funds.
The findings also revealed the need for significant financial investment to put in place pedagogical and non-pedagogical infrastructure as well as equipment to bring the institutions to satisfactory levels for TVET delivery.
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