TVET is a journey to national development, says WDA’s Gasana

It is now three years since Rwanda introduced Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), to promote skills development among the youth. Today, Rwanda hosts a one-week TVET expo to showcase what happens in the technical and vocational education industry. The New Times’ Frank Kanyesigye caught up with Jerome Gasana, the director general of Workforce Development Authority (WDA), for a discussion on TVET’s importance, success prospects and challenges and brings you the excerpts. What is the TVET campaign/expo all about? It is a three-month campaign organised by WDA and the Private Sector Federation (PSF) to promote technical training among the Rwandan youth as a means of closing the unemployment gap. We plan to have a series of events including a TVET Expo which starts today at the Gikondo Expo Grounds. The Expo will focus on enhancing public understanding about the importance of technical education. It runs from November 28 to December 3. This is the third TVET expo to be held in Rwanda. During the TVET Week, we plan to launch two TVET schools including Gishari Police Training School in Rwamagana District, Eastern Province and Gishari Integrated Polytechnic. On December 14, we plan to launch a hair dressing school at our premises in Remera. The TVET awareness campaign will also include a comprehensive media awareness drive, upcountry road shows, completion of a TVET Year Book and a symposium scheduled for Friday November 29, 2013. The Symposium is expected to attract local and international experts who will discuss various aspects on TVET. How unique is the third expo? It is unique in terms of organisation and scope. We have invited TVET providers from the East Africa and beyond. We are expecting participants from Asian, European and central African countries among others. We have a confirmation from seven ministers from the region who are going to attend the TVET symposium on Friday. It will be an opportunity to share experiences and expertise in technical education for the future of our country’s skills development. What is the main aim of the TVET expo? The third TVET Expo aims at promoting public awareness on the role of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in employable skills development to the general public. This Expo is expected to bring together exhibitors from various private companies and TVET institutions engaged in different sectors that include hospitality and tourism, construction and building services, ICT, technical manufacturing and services, agriculture and food processing, art and craft, beauty and esthetics, renewable energy and water management. We want to deliberate on ways to address unemployment through the promotion of technical education. The TVET campaign will be held under the theme; “TVET My career, my future”. This partnership aims at promoting youth entrepreneurship and life skills development in Rwanda. Is TVET really transforming the lives of Rwandan youth? We have seen change in the lives of many young people who have graduated from technical schools. There has also been an 11 per cent increase in student’s enrolment in technical institutions. Basically the passion for young people joining TVET has dramatically increased and this gives us hope that what we are doing is right. The success of technical education in Rwanda is self explanatory. The number of technical and vocation schools in the country has increased. We have managed to change the mindset of Rwandans who believed that technical education was for failures. We have graduated a large number of students and some of them have created their own jobs and employed their colleagues. All this is attributed to the success of TVET. How many students have so far graduated in TVET system? We are still compiling the list. There are students who enroll for a one-week course and those who enroll for a two-week course. Those who have graduated are mainly from Tumba College of Technology and Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC) Kicukiro. We have IPRC south and west which have just opened doors. In general, we have five IPRCs, 44 Public Technical Secondary Schools (TSS) and 113 private TSS, 41 Public Vocational Training Colleges (VTC) and 92 Private. In the TVET system, students graduate with a diploma or advanced diploma, there is no degree. For example in 2011, during the first TVET graduation, A total of 16,714 candidates graduating in various TVET disciplines. In 2012, the number increased to 17,223 and in 2013 it rose to 21,778. When you compare the years, you notice an increase in the number of youth who are joining technical and vocation schools. What skills do young people get from TVET? We have programmes like technical manufacturing and assembly, technical servicing, agriculture and food processing, beauty and aesthetics, arts and crafts making, film making, hospitality and tourism, construction and building servicing, ICT, water resource management and clean and sustainable energy among others. All these programmes are geared towards enabling young people get life skills to create jobs. What could be the challenges hindering the growth of TVET in the country? As I said earlier, there is a mindset problem where people think technical and vocational training is for failures. However, most of these students have good grades but opt for technical skills which are more relevant in the job market. We are glad this mindset is changing and our target is to have 60 per cent of students join TVET and 40 go for the general education. We have also a challenge of getting qualified TVET trainers, but we are addressing that through sending our students abroad to get more skills to come and train TVET trainers. Anything you may want to add? We encourage students to join technical and vocational education for a brighter future, because it is through this that youth will be able to get life skills to create jobs and improve on their standards of living. We are also going to install software that will enable us to really understand the fruits of TVET through tracking the number of graduates who have got, created jobs and the jobless ones. Basically, we want to understand the impact of technical and vocational training in Rwanda. RELATED: Job hopes on TVET as expo opens today

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TVET is a journey to national development, says WDA’s Gasana