http://allafrica.com/stories/201206010260.html

Uganda: Speaker Kadaga Calls for Youth-Inclusive Policy Review

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has called upon policy makers to review their policy formulation and come up with policies which guide young people in making relevant career choices.

“I am not satisfied with the National Development Plan at the moment because it lacks the directive content to guide the youth in making best career decisions,” Kadaga said

Kadaga said that the state’s policy has a big influence in creating the needed will and the inspiration among young people towards certain careers, basing on the opportunities that the policies provide to the career.

She explained that it was not good for the state to leave career guidance to parents and schools, that the government too has an obligation to set policies which guide its people in making relevant future decisions.

Speaking at the launch of the book entitled Vocational Training: An Investment for the Future by Eng. Nathan Muyobo, Kadaga said that government being a policy maker had an upperhand in directing career selection among its citizens.

The leader of the House said that the reason why young people ignore vocational careers is because government policies do not reveal the opportunities in vocational training to woo such learners to take up the courses.

Speaking at the same event, the Speaker commended the writer of the book for the unique step taken.

“Africans hate writing, we are happy for people like you and call upon more to join.”

She said the book was timely, because it would kill the stigma among many people who ignore vocational training.

“Government has been advocating for vocational training but because of the bad will towards the career as people have not embraced the idea,” she said.

“I hope this book will be a revelation to many who have been shunning vocational training to realize that actually it would be much better than what they thought,” she said.

Speaking on behalf of the director of the Directorate of Industrial Training, Deputy Director Ethel Kyobe commended the book for raising the value of vocational education and training towards the national economic development.

“This is a wakeup call to Ugandans as part of the national development plan,” she said

Kyobe hailed the author’s eye in highlighting the potential of women in the labor market, which he says cannot be ignored.

On his part, Muyobo said his zeal to write was inspired by the realization of young men and women loitering on street because they lacked skills to start up something themselves or even be hired somewhere.

“And I realized that for most of them the problem was not that they cannot afford training, but they have no interest to join vocational training because they underestimate it,” he said

My view is that this book will create the belief and interest among such people to realize that they can find a solution in vocational studies,” Muyobo said

He said that although the book was mainly targeting career guidance people, teachers and school-leavers, he hopes policy makers will buy a leaf of it in formulating national policies.

The book was launched Thursday at Lugogo Vocational Training Institute, with a copy selling at twenty thousand shillings.

Paul Champion
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www.apprenticeshipblog.com

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