Non-Formal Skills Training Program Excites Students

Students are excited about the government’s non-formal skills training program. 

The government program which will be conducted in vocational institutions across the country at a free cost is meant to empower the youths will skills that enable them to sustain themselves in life. 

The trainees will be trained for three months in courses ranging from domestic electrical installation, welding, carpentry, bricklaying, tailoring, fashion, design, crafts, and metal fabrication among others.   

Cynthia Ayo, a building trainee at Mengo Polytechnic is optimistic that after the course, she will know how to build by laying bricks to earn a living.   

She has already been briefed during her orientation about what will entail in the three months’ study including digging, laying and constructing a small structural foundation, plumbing, and levelling the walls of the building.   

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James Oluka, a trainee enrolled for motor vehicle mechanics at Lugogo Vocational Institute says that he is not certain about what he is going to study.  He is hopeful that after training for the three months, he can fit car tyres, lights and painting.   

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According to Dr Safinah Kisu Museene, Commissioner for Business Technical Vocational Education Training (BTVET), at the Ministry of Education and Sports, more than 100 institutions across the country will train 30 students or more students, for three months in various vocational studies. After the training, the trainees will be awarded certificates that will later be qualified by the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) to practice the acquired skills. 

The institution together with the local council leaders will identify trainees who are mostly school dropouts to study and benefit from the government vocational training project.

“It is envisaged that after three months training and after qualification by the Ministry of Education, the students will go back to the community and do meaningful work for the locals in their areas,” Museene said.   

Wilson Tumuhamye, the Principal Lugogo Vocational Institute believes that by the end of three months a trainee should be able to make tangible products for sell, but also help in the skills available in the areas where they come from.   

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Fred Mayanja, Deputy Principal in Charge of Training at Nakawa Vocational Training College embraces the non-formal training in Uganda because it is demand-based, where the trainees are given skills that benefit their community and which they can earn from.   

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Johnson Turyamwesimira, Principal Qualification Officer at DIT says the non-formal training will add skills to the trainees, and upon qualification, they can become job creators within the community they leave.   

The skill Uganda program was launched in Jinja in 2012 to create jobs and employment among Ugandans through vocational training.