The Technical Vocational Training Authority (Teveta) has called for mindset change towards acquiring technical and vocational education among the youth in the country.
The plea comes amid concerns of continued shunning of technical and vocational related education among youths on grounds that such jobs are meant for the less intelligent.
According to TEVETA Executive Director, Wilson Makulumiza Nkhoma, the skills acquired through technical and vocational training are a key in attaining economic independence in the current times of high unemployment rate.
In an interview with MIJ Online, Nkhoma said it is however encouraging that most girls are now starting to show interest in technical and vocational education.
He however called for mindset change among youths to ensure that the sector attracts some of the best candidates.
“We need to work on changing the mindset of young people for them to start looking at technical and vocational education as a priority once they finish their secondary education because the current setting promotes, ” he said.
“The perception of technical and vocational education among the youth is very bad out there as many regard such education as for the less intelligent or the less privileged hence the need to change the same,” added Nkhoma.
Established in 1999,TEVETA has managed to increase its intake from the initial 400 to about 6,000 in 2019 with over 80,000 students having been trained in the twenty years it has been in existence.