Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA needs to reform its education system because it fails to meet labour market demands.
The country reviewed its entire curriculum in 2019, to address the challenges and needs of society by reducing and expanding subjects and reintroducing technical and vocational subjects in the school curriculum.
However, the African Peer Review Mechanism’s (APRM) review on targeted youth unemployment said the curriculum creates a mismatch between Namibia’s basic and tertiary education sector and the requirements of labour.
“The provision of skills and vocational training in the informal economy lacks a coordinated and integrated skills development strategy,” the report highlighted.
Tabled by parliamentarian Inna Hengari, the National Assembly debated youth unemployment in the country. The APRM took issue with Namibia’s economic structure, labelling it restrictive.
“Growth has been slow with the current socio-economic framework incapable of addressing the growing challenges of youth unemployment over time,” the report reads. Further zooming in on the education sector, APRM noted that Namibia has a weak technical and vocational skills development base.
Furthermore, the APRM wants the Office of the President to establish a youth programme coordination and implementation unit which should consolidate funding across ministries and government agencies, as well as monitor and evaluate targeted programmes to create youth employment.
This recommendation was blasted by unionist Mahongora Kavihuha who rubbished the APRM report because it contains nothing new. He said the National Youth Council (NYC) was established by parliament for that exact reason.
Kavihuha said the government still hasn’t even implemented the resolutions from the national education conference held in 2011. “None of the recommendations of this conference were implemented except for the misunderstood point on the recent review of the curriculum,” he said.
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE Hengari’s motion highlighted the same issues as the APRM report, stating that the economic consequences of half of the most productive labour force being excluded from the economy are obvious.
She also pointed out that the current education system fails to prepare the youth psychologically for entrepreneurship and innovation. To remedy the situation, Hengari suggested that the requirement for experience should be done away with.
“It will be a game changer and will see a decrease in the high unemployment levels of suitably qualified young people if adopted,” she told the National Assembly. INNOVATIVE YOUTH
To fill the gap between education institutions and the labour market, two young Namibians decided to launch a web-application, Autono-Me, which provides companies access to vetted workers, and allows workers to earn an income through short-term employment on the platform.
Co-founder Ndiilo Nthengwe, speaking on the discord between the employment sector and labour market, said Namibian industries are not evolving at the same pace as most SADC countries that attempt to bridge technology with structural institutional issues; specifically unemployment.
“We still emulate the same outdated traditional models of working, which is deeply embedded in our education institutions. Hence, you find graduates without employment prospects, or individuals with employment but who do not grow professionally.”
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