TANZANIA has decided to recognize the prior learning programs a move that will prove to be an important milestone for skills development and employment opportunities for youths.
Speaking during the official launching of the
recognition of Prior Learning Assessment Program (RPLA) to the invited
dignitaries in Dar es Salaam last week, the Vice President of Tanzania, Dr
Mohammed Ghalib Bilal said that the program is aimed at recognizing skills
irrespective of how, where and when they were attained.
He said that in countries with large informal
economy like Tanzania, informal apprenticeship is the only option for thousands
of young people to acquire skills having failed to make it to formal training
for various reasons.
Dr Bilal added that statistics indicate that
over 500,000 youths who have completed their secondary school education fail to
get further study opportunities every year, which means that if they do not gets
proper training they end up in the job market without any formal training.
The VP further said that apprenticeship system
in the informal economy, where young people are trained informally in acquiring
skills, is the most prevalent way of skills acquisition for poor and
marginalized communities.
“Apart from different avenues employed in
tackling employment, the government has embarked on making sure that there are
enough vocational training centers in the country to cater for these young
people, and by doing so, currently there are 27 government centers and over 600
private centers,” said the VP.
He said that the certificates acquired by the
young people in their apprenticeship program will not only be recognized in the
country but internationally, saying that to ensure this the government had to
involve the International Labor Organization (ILO).
On his part, the Vocational Education Training
Authority (VETA) Director General Zebadiah Moshi said that the essence of prior
learning assessment is to recognize the skills from individuals in the informal
sector of education, and give them an official recognition at the government
level.
He underscored that this move has many
advantages to the youth in Tanzania by first recognizing their skills at the
individual level in any given profession and award them with proper
certificates.
Moshi noted that with the support from ILO,
VETA has for the past three years studied how training takes places at the
workplace and aligns the dynamics with VETA curricular and occupational
standards.
“As a result, a framework for RPLA was improved
that guides how the skills recognition should be done,
“With this framework, VETA is now in a position
to expand access for skills development to thousands of young people whose
skills are not recognized yet are competent,” said Moshi.
The ILO Regional Entrepreneurship Specialist,
Julius Mutio on his part said that ILO will continue increasing access to
skills development, promote employability, improves productivity and promote
equality.
“This is the second launch event for a skills
development initiative that the ILO, the government of Tanzania and partners
are championing. In 5th September 2014 we launched certified apprenticeship
programme which resulted from the decision made during a tripartite
consultative workshop in 2008,” he said
He added: “The ILO further believes in
upgrading informal apprenticeship because it is the most widespread training
system in developing countries including Tanzania. Informal apprenticeships are
the most important source of skills training in Africa at large”
He also noted that in countries like Benin,
Senegal and Cameroon constitutes 90 percent through which people acquire
trainings in trades, moreover the skills acquired through informal
apprenticeship are relevant and always and always tailored to the needs of the
local community making graduates of informal apprenticeship highly employable.
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