Katabazi Valley Lane is a dusty, bumpy feeder road in Kisaasi, a Kampala suburb. This valley is a residential site and home to some of Kampala’s middle-income earners.
But the recent abrupt and uncoordinated changes in the weather mean residents either have to cope with dusty roads or mud flowing into their homes on rainy days. The El Nino rain, in particular, have forced the neighbourhood to work on the path and their drainage systems.
It is in this setting that Mr Israel Mbuga Kamwaka, a former student of Namulanda Technical Institute (NATI), is working to make ends meet.
“It was easy for me to get this job because of my qualifications and the fact that I live within this neighbourhood,” Mr Kamwaka, in his mid-thirties, who studied Block Laying and Concrete Practice (BCP) at NATI from 2010-2012 shared.
He joined the technical school after failing to complete an Information Technology degree course at Kyambogo University. The BCP certificate, though, offers him an opportunity to enrol for a diploma in civil engineering.
“From my school days, I learnt a lot about building and also acquired some knowledge on plumbing. All this has helped me survive and get temporary jobs here and there,” he adds.
But one does not have to wait for things to go wrong. Mr Kamwaka believes he would be in an even better financial status if he had joined vocational training earlier in his life.
His thoughts are echoed by Mr Patrick Kaboyo, an educationist and chief executive officer of Coalition of Uganda Private School Teachers Association. In the past, most technical and vocational schools were privately owned but with increased donor funding, there is an influx of government-aided ones.
There are 56 BTVET technical schools and community polytechnics implementing free secondary education with 40 being government-aided while 16 are private. Government pays 220,000 per student under free secondary education in the institutions per term.
“We have a steady increase in the number of students enrolling in technical institutes but we can’t say it’s an improvement. We are far from the required levels, especially because most of them (O Level graduates) prefer to go to senior five,” Mr Kaboyo explains.
He believes there is need to overhaul the selection criteria to allow even the best students a chance to join these hands-on institutions rather than the more theoretical route that takes one through A-Level and university, only for one to later fall victim to the unemployment crisis.
“Our economy needs production and not consumption. Students can only be productive if they utilise skills through gainful employment,” he notes. But how does one convince a student that passed his/her UCE to join technical institutes, which are ironically, considered an option for the academically weak? “Changing mindset is down to legal and policy frameworks. Government therefore needs to decide at what point (in the stages of education) they need a student to be resourceful,” Mr Kaboyo adds.
mmuziransa@ugnationmedia.com
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