TVET is teaching our youth ‘how to fish’

We have all heard the adage about fish. Give a man fish and he will eat for one day, teach him how to fish and he will eat fish for the rest of his life. The Technical Vocational Education and Training Expo 2013 has just come to an end. What is clear though is that the Government’s commitment to this sector is a winning strategy. Rwanda’s growth path is often compared to the Asian Tigers and indeed focus on vocational skills is what drove growth in the Asian Tigers. Education Times therefore explores the phenomenon that is TVET. This is the education sector that is now receiving the biggest chunk of the budget simply because the Government now recognises the need to focus on skills that make our youth almost instantly employable or able to create their own jobs and jobs for others. The belief that TVET is for those who drop out of school or those that are weak has long changed as many are embracing it now after realising the hidden advantages that a TVET graduate has. Much as Rwanda is striving for a knowledge-based economy as per the Vision 2020, it is not oblivious of the fact that the real drivers of a country’s economy are the artisans and entrepreneurs. Self reliance is best achieved when one is armed with the skills and more importantly the attitude to create, innovate or develop on existing ideas to come up with something that is needed by the society and has the ability to transform people’s lives. TVET covers all those aspects and it is not exaggerating to say that Rwanda is on the right path as far as TVET is concerned. Generations of fishermen are being produced.