Veta told to borrow page on training from S.Korea.

Education and Vocational Training deputy minister Anna Kilango Malechela (2nd-L) listens to a students of Vocational Education and Training Authority in a laboratory. Veta now offers training for laboratory technicians to cater for the shortage of the skills currently facing the nation. Looking on L is Veta Director General Zebadiah Moshi. (Photo: Prosper Makene)

The government has called on the private sector to heavily invest in vocational education and training and where necessary learn from how South Koreans have developed by investing in this field.

 

Speaking during a visit to the Vocational Education and Training Authority (Veta) headquarters in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, Deputy Minister for Education and Vocational Training Anna Kilango Malecela said that South Korea is now among the developed countries simply after it had made efforts in investing in vocational education.

 

“We visited South Korea with my team and I asked them on the secret of their success they said that was all about investing in vocational training. Therefore I call upon the private sector to help the government on this area,” she said.

 

Malecela added: “South Koreans also told us that it was hard to invested heavily in vocational education training institutes because there are misconception that many people who have vocational education training had previously been failures at school. They said they controlled this through the media. Therefore I call upon Veta to prepare advertisements which shows that Veta is not for failures or second place persons.”

 

She pointed out that there is a need for an increased demand for more vocational education training institutes to the fact that it is certainly not for failures as was the perception for a number of years ago.

 

“It needs about 4bn/- to establish a vocational education in training institute at every district level, with this fact we have to welcome the private sector to invest. The private sector in South Korea invests in vocational education training for almost 70 percent and has left only 30 percent for the government.”

 

She added: “We have to change and be like South Koreans, not many private institutions invest in vocational training. They go for universities and English medium schools and forget that there is a need to invest in vocational training institutes, the kernel of development.”

 

For his part, Veta Director General Zebadiah Moshi said that currently more than 600 non public vocational training institutes provide training in long and various tailor-made short courses of which they also conduct labour market survey to determine the skills demand.

 

Moshi also said that public and non public Veta provision capacity is 160,000 per year and the actual placement requirements is more about one million trainees per annum.

 

“One of the biggest challenges facing training is that it cannot match up with the changing technology. Therefore training lags behind and fails to meet the labour market needs at any particular moment,” he said.

 

He noted: “So as to improve, we have to come up with modernisation programmes for training centres, develop relevant training programmes as per the requirements as well as have close collaboration with industries and other stakeholders such as professional organizations.”

 

He noted: “We are here to ensure provision of quality VET that leads to generation of competitive labour force and contribute to social economic development through effective regulation, coordination, financing and provision with stakeholders”

Veta was established by Act of Parliament No. 1 of 1994 to coordinate, regulate, finance, promoting and provide vocational education training in Tanzania.