The Ministry of Education and Sports has revealed that it is in the process of formulating a law to strengthen the operations of vocational training centers across the country.

The ministry, in partnership with the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) and the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Sports, said they have embarked on consultations on how to proceed with the policy.

Ministry officials say the law aims to effectively replace the 2008 Law on Vocational and Technical Education and Training (BTVET) which they say is obsolete and needs to be amended.

Speaking to the media after a stakeholder meeting in Entebbe on Wednesday, Mr. Denis Mugimba, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, said they had recently conducted a benchmarking study in Kenya on improving performance. technical and vocational education in Uganda.

“We have just started the process and have not yet decided to completely cancel or make changes to the BTVET law. This will be done by the officials of the ministry in collaboration with the vocational training centers,” he said. -he declares.

He added that the Justice Department is tasked with drafting a law to determine whether it should be amended or repealed based on the issues that will be raised by officials.

“While we need a law in place, there are other issues that need to be addressed first. These include the creation of TVET [Technical and Vocational Education and Training] Council as a regulatory body for TVET across the country, ”he said.

DIT Acting Director Patrick Byakatonda said he wanted the new law to specify funding for TVET operations as practical work requires a lot of money, including facilitating assessors and purchasing ‘equipment for practical work.

“In the old law, we get funds through the central government, which is not fair because it delays our programs and sometimes we get less money than we ask for, but we have a lot of work to do, ”said Byakatonda.

Mr Byakatonda said the new law should take into account industrial assessment and certification, where all assessors should be certified by the DIT to ensure there are professionals in the field.

The chairman of the committee, Mr. John Twesigye Ntamuhira, said that before starting the process of amending or repealing the current law, it is necessary to hold several consultations as this is a national problem.

“We cannot make a decision now because some of our colleagues say there is no need to repeal the law, but amendments can be made to take into account other issues that have been left out “, did he declare.

Agago District MP Ms Beatrice Akello Okori said that with the law already in place, there was no need to draft a new law.

“We can improve what we already have. We can change the existing laws that govern technical and vocational education in the country,” she said.

CONTEXT

In January 2019, the Cabinet approved the TVET policy focused on the establishment of an employer-led TVET system and a TVET qualifications framework consistent with the regional framework.

The Cabinet decision, according to Mr. Denis Mugimba, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, authorized the ministry to draft the principles or pillars on which the new law will emerge from politics.

General information for Thursday, September 9, 2021

Source: gbcghanaonline.com

2021-09-09

The Sawa Vocational Training Center (SCVT) has been training students in various technical fields for 14 years. Initially, the center trained for one year certified students in the fields of electricity, drawing, surveying and building. The program has been reviewed and improved over the past eight years. The number of areas of specialization has increased and the one-year certificate program has been transformed into a two-year certificate program aimed at providing students with practical experience in their areas of specialization.

Considering the importance of the training programs in improving the nation’s human resource base and the relevance of the training programs to the country’s development plans, the government has invested more than USD 16 million for the purchase of modern training equipment.

SCVT students were encouraged to work on innovative works and their ingenuity could be seen at the exhibitions held each year as part of their senior technical work presentations in their respective fields.

Some students feel that they should have received a diploma instead of a certificate because they studied for two years. But Mr. Negasi Kifle, director of Building Construction Technology 01, is of the opinion that the courses offered at the center strictly follow the standards set for practical and scientific courses. He said that most of the time a science degree course takes three years while the courses at SCVT cover 60 credit hours which should be covered in four semesters over a two-year period and therefore l The award of the certificate is justified.

Mr. Negasi added that for many students, certificate level courses have been a short road to what would have been achieved in 20 years. The students were very eager to take the courses and they were always ready to do more in their future careers. There would be an incentive for those who are passionate to continue their education at a degree level as they have already covered the necessary credit hours.

The Covid-19 outbreak could have been a setback for the teaching and learning process across the country, as schools were closed for a year. But, Mr. Negasi said, the fact that SCVT is a boarding school and there was no contact with other parts of the country that were partially closed, SCVT training was carried out without any interruptions, a rare benefit for students to complete. their studies within the allotted time.

The SCVT provides financial and material support to students in need, and the Ministry of Education provides teaching materials when needed.

To give students extensive access to reading materials, the center opened a digital library. The well-trained teachers also worked hard to ensure that the students had a good knowledge of the subject.

According to the teachers and the administration of the SCVT, the overall competence of the pupils of the center is remarkable. All students meet established standards and most have performed well while some demonstrate exceptional excellence. In addition, the participation of students in the SCVT increases every year. They are increasingly competitive with their male counterparts and excel in certain areas. Despite their small number compared to the number of male students, female students were resolute in their studies, which is evident in the number of women graduating with distinction. At the beginning of the 12th, for example, of the nine students who obtained full marks, five are women.

Elim Ghirmai and Saron Mihreteab, graduates in the 12th year of the school year, obtained four grades in four semesters. Saron studied electronics and graduated with great distinction. She said her father is a technician and what she learned from him inspired her to study electronics. Elim, for his part, said that her father is an engineer and that she decided to study surveying due to her father’s influence. The two exceptional students said the center allowed them to become versatile and created many opportunities for social interactions which led to strong relationships.

After graduation, students were assigned to develop infrastructure such as dam and road construction, electricity, agriculture, maintenance of electronics, refrigerators and air conditioners, plumbing, auto mechanics, computer maintenance and networking, drawing and surveying. Although SCVT graduates have left their fingerprints on development projects across the country, some have not worked in their area of ​​specialization. Mr Negasi said the huge expense of equipping students with the necessary knowledge would only be productive when graduates were assigned to areas of their competence and the center worked hard for a better outcome.

The training center has made remarkable progress and what students love the most about the center are the comprehensive and special courses that have transformed their lives. The number of workshops at the training center has increased over the years, from five to 23, to accommodate more trainees and provide trainees with spacious space for practice.

Students representative of the six regions of the country visit the center each year to see the huge investments made to expand the workshops and enable students to acquire technical skills in various fields. More and more students have expressed an interest in joining the center and enjoying its life-changing experience. Mr. Negasi said the centre’s doors are always open for interested students.

You can ask almost anyone and they’ll tell you it’s true: the skilled trades are short on manpower.

A March report from the Washington state group PeopleReady Skilled Trades found that while apprenticeships and available jobs in industries like plumbing, roofing, carpentry and construction were increasing, sometimes by up to 50% in one month, the positions were not filled for a month or more.

In the Mass., This shortage is played out in part in the technical and vocational high schools of the State, which face increased demand despite the shortages reported. According to a presentation made in February at a special meeting of the Council for Primary and Secondary Education, some 18,560 completed applications were submitted to enroll in ninth grade in 58 schools and vocational programs in the last academic year. . Of these applications, 12,454 received an offer of admission, with 9,951 students enrolled as of October 1.

Based on these figures, only around 56% of applicants with full applications were offered admission, with slightly less than that ultimately signed up. In other words, according to the presentation at the BESE meeting, there were 1.75 applications for every place available in a professional program.

Numbers like these have fueled questions about who gets admitted to the state’s highly sought-after professional programs, the rules for applying, and what these students will do after enrollment is complete. In response primarily to the first, BESE on June 22 approved changes to its regulations regarding professional admission procedures, relaxing admission criteria and requiring schools to actively work to ensure that their admission policies include strategies for attracting and enrolling a student body, which has an academic and demographic profile of the cities from which vocational schools draw students. In short, the new rules lower the requirements for academic excellence.

The changes have divided stakeholders in the state’s vocational and technical education programming, some of whom say the changes did not go far enough – arguing for a comprehensive lottery system not prioritizing to academic superiority or social standing, and others who say that students who are academically strong and interested in furthering their professional education in college should not be barred from admission to do so.

Workforce Development

“It’s frustrating and I think we’ve finally gotten to the point where something needs to be done,” said Jeannie Hebert, President and CEO of the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce and the force behind the Blackstone Valley Educational Hub based. in Northbridge. “They became elite schools, and that wasn’t what they were meant to be.

Hebert said vocational schools fell from their original intent. These programs were designed to teach students who were not academically bright but who were interested in learning the trades, including students with learning disabilities and other special needs.

Indeed, economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities attend vocational schools at slightly higher rates than statewide, according to the February report. However, in 2020, students of color were attending vocational schools at a rate of 39% compared to 43% of schools in the state. English language learners attended vocational schools at a rate of 6%, compared to 10% in the Commonwealth as a whole. The same BESE presentation indicated that students of color and English language learners apply to vocational schools at lower rates than their counterparts, with fewer acceptances and enrollments.

Collegiate rates

While vocational and technical schools have in some cases become institutions of attraction, their occasional penchant for academic excellence has made them vulnerable to criticism, their priorities are not in the right place.

The tension creates a double-edged sword: No one wants students in vocational schools to fail on their own, but some argue that great academic results miss the point.

At Blackstone Valley Regional Technical High School, the only vocational school in central Massachusetts to send students to college at a rate above state figures, the student body is graduating at rates of up to 100% , with the lowest recent graduation rate recorded at 98.4%, according to the school’s 2020 report card, maintained by DESE. Statewide in the same year, graduation rates were 88%.

At the same time, 78.7% of its 2019 graduates have enrolled in post-secondary education programs, compared to 72% of students statewide, with 73.8% of students attending four-year college, compared to 55.7% of students in Massachusetts.

Worcester Technical High School also enjoys a higher graduation rate than high schools in the state, with 98.4% of four-year study in 2019. However, Worcester Tech students do not attend high school programs. post-secondary education at higher rates than graduate students statewide. In 2019, 64.2% of graduates continued their education, with only 41.5% in a four-year school.

Timothy Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and former lieutenant governor, does not think it is the job of professional regulatory bodies to challenge students who choose to pursue their professional training and attend the university, rather than entering the job market directly.

“We can do both,” Murray said. “We can walk and chew gum. “

More people are going to college in all fields, he said, and instituting a lottery would still leave applicants rejected from vocational training programs.

In his view, the most important step in addressing waiting lists and boosting the trades workforce is to expand vocational training programs, both by building new schools and adding vocational and technical training opportunities in schools. The latter is particularly useful, he said, when comprehensive high schools add programs that complement, rather than compete with, their local vocational school.

“Any child or family who wants to access a Chapter 74 program should have it because it’s the way of the future,” Murray said.

Although stakeholders vary depending on whether they think it is appropriate for vocational schools to graduate large numbers of university students, most people agree that vocational programs should be extended, in general, that whether through building new schools, public-private partnerships, hybrid programs like Blackstone Valley Ed Hub, which provides training to more population groups than just high school students, or adding to comprehensive schools pre-existing.

“There is obviously a challenge here, with the provision of high-level education, what we know to be vocational education. We have seen the success of vocational schools, ”said Jeffrey Turgeon, executive director of the MassHire Central Region Workforce Board. “So the challenge is how to extend that? “

Ultimately, the goal should be to provide the opportunity to have vocational training for those who want it, which could then reduce waiting lists at local schools, Turgeon said.