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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in

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DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1811-2.ch002

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Chapter 2
Rationale and Challenges of
Technical Vocational Education
and Training in Uganda
James C. Okware
Kyambogo University, Uganda

Willy Ngaka
Makerere University, Uganda

ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rationale for TVET in Uganda, identifying the challenges it faces and sug-
gesting possible solutions. It is premised on the assumption that education; especially TVET, is the sup-
ply side of the economy in Uganda; whereas the labor market and job enterprises are its demand side.
For effective and sustainable employability of graduates, there should be a balance between them. But
despite its potential, TVET in Uganda still faces a variety of challenges; including stigma, low esteem
and parity of status with its academic counterpart, policy inconsistency, endemic public corruption,
philosophical dis-orientation, as well as historical, socio-economic and cultural prejudices. The authors
proffer several possible solutions, including demand driven TVET, integrating creativity and innovation
into the learning processes, life-long learning, Public-Private Training Partnerships (PPTPs), flexible
teaching and learning, work-tasks as the curricula; inclusive and affordable learning technologies and
the workplace rather than the classroom as delivery venue.

INTRODUCTION

This writing is structured in five sections – the first is a brief introduction. The second is the thesis and
theoretical framework underpinning TVET in general. Section three is the background and context of
TVET or Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) in the case of Uganda. The
fourth is the rationale for BTVET in a developing nation such as Uganda; whereas the fifth section are
the challenges facing TVET as a unique form of education; as well as the suggested remedies by which
these may be overcome.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1811-2.ch002

Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

Thesis and Theoretical Framework

Survival, growth and development in the current globalized world are contingent upon individual abilities
to cope with the rapid structural, cultural and technological changes. In addition to the usual cognitive
knowledge and skills expected of an education system therefore; graduates of the current era will need
what the authors describe as Creativity, Innovation and Personal Enterprise (CIPE) to be successful.
As a response to the destabilizing tendencies of the new waves of change; individuals, communities,
businesses and governments are increasingly looking towards Technical, Vocational Education and Train-
ing (TVET), as the form of education to supply the lacking work competencies. Marope, Chakroun and
Holmes (2015 p.13) say that ‘a strong economic rationale now exists for investing in TVET; based on
the recognition that TVET is the source of skills, knowledge and technology needed to drive productivity
in the new knowledge-based and transition societies’.
The authors foreground this writing on the activity or action learning theory; a set of constructs
whose origin is associated with social psychologists Lev Vygotsky and his disciple Alexei Leont’ev
(see Luria, 1976; Billet, 2001 & Illeris, 2003) as the theoretical framework informing discussions in the
later parts of the chapter. The central assumption of activity theory is that teaching or training, learning,
understanding, positive experiences, work-readiness and employability are inseparable from the work
activity itself, practice or as (Mjelde, 2008) called it, praxis. It assumes that learners are socio-culturally
embedded actors and not line processors like system components; and that there exists a hierarchical
analysis of motivated human action (levels of activity analysis).
Drawing from the early 20th Century educational thought of the German educationist Kerschensteiner;
and more recently, (Vygotsky, 1978; in Engeström, 2001), the activity theory hinges on the philosophy
that learning occurs best at work and through work; or indeed some form of activity, practice or praxis
(Hager, 2008; Mjelde, 2006). Thus, the activity theory’s philosophy underscores the inextricable link
between education and work. In the view of Kerschensteiner (cited in Hager, 2008 and Mjelde, 2006),
any education or training leading to work competencies and readiness should be concurrent; or at least
be immediately preceded by actual work or practice, and with no time lost in between. On the premise
that the aim of education is to develop knowledge, skills, integrity, positive attitude or (competence)
for employment (Marope, Chakroun & Holmes, 2015; UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2013; BTVET Strategic
Plan, 2012; ILO, 2010; Sotoudeh, 2009) and Government White Paper on Education (GWPE, 1992),
it is only logical therefore that educational processes occur in the vicinity of work. Thus any education
meant for work or employment can only be through the medium of some form of work or what Mjelde
(2006) calls ‘learning by doing’. TVET or (BTVET in the case of Uganda) is the only form of education
to realistically provide that kind of learning environment.
The significance of the activity theory for the education system in Uganda, but especially Business,
Technical, Vocational Education (BTVET), is that BTVET combines education and work, thereby
making teaching and learning to be complete and authentic; as any education or training system which
excludes work or practice, as is the case has tended to be in Uganda can only be a fraction of the whole
education. In the section following, the authors describe the background and the context of TVET or
BTVET delivery in Uganda.

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

Background and Context of TVET in Uganda

Uganda is a land-locked developing country, situated on the equator in the heart of Africa. It is 241,139
square kilometers in size, a sizeable portion of which is fresh water bodies. On average, the country
lies at an altitude of 900-2000 meters above sea level. It has a mild tropical climate with temperatures
of between 17ºc and 28ºc, and rainfall averaging 1500 mm per annum (UK Essays, 2015). Uganda is a
peasant agricultural country. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS, 2010; in UK Essays, 2015) esti-
mates the population of the country at 35 million; it has an annual growth rate of 3.3% and an average
population density of 124 persons per km2.
Politically, the country attained independence from Britain in 1962; but faced a period of politi-
cal turmoil from 1970 to 1979 that resulted into economic and political decline; as most of the skilled
manpower; including a large number of professionals fled the country for political as well as economic
refuge. As a result, the country’s key economic sectors - education, health, agriculture, energy, transport
and the service industry were adversely affected as these went unattended.
As is the case with most other Sub-Saharan Africa, SSA (Amedzro, 2005), Uganda is currently fac-
ing high incidences of both unemployment and under-employment among its youth and/ or graduates.
This is said to be a direct result of the academic form of education and training, inevitably leading to a
mis-match between the skills provided by the education system and those required by the labor market;
according to the Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET, 2012); African Union
(AU, 2007); Ssekamwa, 1997 and the Government White Paper on Education (GWPE, 1992). Govern-
ment has now instituted steps to address this challenge by reforming the education system, and one such
intervention is the Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) Strategic Plan or
‘Skilling Uganda’ program, 2012-2921.
However, academic education and training as introduced by the British had little inclination towards
rural development, although the colonial government policy emphasized transforming the country-side
(Ssekamwa, 1997; GWPE, 1992). Apart from education by some Christian missionaries, most of the
colonial government’s education was designed to impart learners with purely academic (cognitive) kills;
starving them of the more work-relevant or practical skills (Okello, 2010). And as if towing the line of
the British colonial education legacy, there appears to be no indication that this is bound to change any
time soon (Osege, 2015; Satu in Eremu, 2015; Mulepo, 2014; Sseppuuya, 2013). For instance, enrolment
in higher institutions of learning still does not correspond to the country’s manpower needs (Kasozi,
2015b); and the education curricula is still subject content-based rather than being practical or skill-based.

CONCEPT OF TVET AND ITS RATIONALE FOR

DEVELOPING NATIONS LIKE UGANDA

Technical, Vocation Education and Training (TVET) or Business Technical Vocational Education and
Training (BTVET) in the case of Uganda; is a learner centered approach to teaching and learning in which
the learner and the activities to be learnt are the central issues. It is a form of education that is didactical
in nature – i.e. teaching, learning and research that is oriented towards work in the different trades, oc-
cupations and professions (Mjelde, 2006). It is a form of education for the preparation of working life;
and is aimed at developing direct expertise in the processes related to technology (tools, equipment &
materials) use, and skills spanning all aspects of a given trade. It is the form of education whose delivery

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

is based on ‘manual dexterity’ or practical activity and traditionally non-academic. Generally referred
to as Career and Technical Education (CTE) it is a form of education that is meant to prepare people for
work in specific trades, crafts, occupations and careers. It is a flexible, democratic and inclusive form
of education; as it allows for teaching and learning to be delivered at a learner’s convenience; usually
through modularization, and caters for all people at levels of occupational qualifications (see Uganda
Vocational Qualifications Framework, UVQF, 2009 and the European Qualifications Framework, EQF,
2008). Premised on this context and meaning, this chapter now discusses the rationale for TVET (BT-
VET) in Uganda, as well as the challenges it faces.

Transitioning from School-Life to Working-Life

TVET as a form of education is intended to impart knowledge and skills (competencies), right attitude,
autonomy of identity, perseverance, character and the work ethic into trainees in readiness for work and
general employment. This in turn leads to productivity, social inclusion and economic development (Ma-
rope, Chakroun & Holmes, 2015; ILO, 2012; UNESCO-UNEVOC 2013; Grubb, 2008; GWPE, 1992).
Bünning (2007) adds that the role of education and training in national development is universally rec-
ognized. However, as Lucas et al (2010 p.51) discovered, education generally lacks ways of transferring
learning or training knowledge to real world contexts and tasks. This seems to particularly true of the
old Academic Based Education and Training (ABET). As a work-related or outcome based approach to
teaching and learning, TVET has been found to provide critical pedagogical strategies for transitioning
inexperienced young people from school-life to the harsh realities of working-life (UNESCO-UNEVOC,
2013; BTVET Strategic Plan, 2012; Griesel & Parker, 2008; AU, 2007; Mjelde, 2006); since TVET
provides the platform by which inexperienced youth and or/ graduates are exposed to work experiences.
The International Labour Organization (ILO, 2012; in UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2013) found out that one
of the major impediments to from the school-to-work transition of youth and graduates is the demand
for ‘working experience’ by prospective employers. Only TVET, together with its other variants such
as Competence Based Education and Training (CBET), Work Based Learning (WBL), Work Related
Learning (WRL), Practical Vocational Education (PVE), Experiential Learning (EL) or Problem Based
Learning (PBL), Life-Long Learning (LLL) and best of all apprenticeships; is the most appropriate
form of education for helping youth and graduates make the link between school-life and working-life.

Integrating Classroom Theory to Practice and Bridging Skills Gaps

Closely related to the from school-to-work transition of graduates is the role of TVET in integrating class
room/ workshop theory to practice as well as experiencing the reality of the world of work. As Tynjälä
(2007) says, recent research on educational outcomes in the Nordic countries (particularly at tertiary
level), show that there is a gap between the knowledge needed at work, and the knowledge and skills
produced through formal (academic) education. For his part, Hager (2008 p.50) found out that ‘learning
from the experience of work is the only form of education to give people the capacity to act wisely and
with judgment in particularly challenging situations’. And Applebaum (1996) in Mjelde (2009) empha-
sized that learning by practice and experience, by trying and failing and trying again, by engaging in
real activity is the basis for acquiring thorough knowledge, experience and expertise. Harding sealed the
argument about the significance of TVET when he said that even in the realm of pure ideas, be it in the
activity of writing or reading, people learn best when they are involved in actual activity. Only TVET

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

embodies the kind of education as perceived by Applebaum, Harding and Mjelde. And as Hager (2008
p.11) candidly put it, ‘formal education might make people work-ready, but it is only at the workplace
that they become work-competent’.

Bridging the Skills Gaps and Enhancing Competiveness

TVET is further relevant for Uganda in helping to bridge skills gap. Lucas et al (2012) argue that the
benefits of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) are self-evident. For example, no one
can become a graceful ballet dancer, a world-class marathoner, a five-star hotel chef, a skilled nuclear
sub-marine officer, a football great like Pele; or a jumbo jet pilot by reading and listening alone in a
lecture room. Rather, these people must dance, fly planes and cook practically. Lionel Messi, the current
number one footballer in the world; must play football practically. Uganda’s BTVET Strategic Plan or
‘Skilling Uganda’ as it is better known appears cognizant of this fact when it says:

Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) is increasingly being viewed as the
antidote against the supply driven, academia-focused formal training programs which have failed to
provide graduates with competencies and skills that are relevant to the needs of the current labour
market. (BTVET, 2012 p.15)

The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (AfDB, 2013; UBOS, 2012; ILO in Kiryowa, 2016) all contend that
the best chance for employment, as well as the main driver of economic development in Uganda is the
informal sector, specifically in the form of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). And Hager (2008)
discovered that contrary to popular belief, majority of useful teaching and learning actually occur in-
formally at work; during work. Thus the workplace (and by implication, informal vocational training or
education), provide the only genuine point of intersection for the different forms of knowledge in order to
produce employable and work-ready graduates. That is the reason Jarvinen, 2014 in Eremu (2015) recom-
mends that rather than concentrating on only the usual formal Academic Based Education and Training
(ABET), Uganda should recognize all forms of learning and award them no matter where they occur.
The remedy to such education or training-work divide would be for Uganda to build more industrial
schools and parks; more experimental workplaces or Centers of Excellent (CoE), more manufacturing
plants and service units to act as dual places for the combined delivery of learning and work experience,
as a way of tapping into the novel concept of Work Based Learning and Training (WBLT).

De-Skilling and Re-Skilling Existing Workers

Closely related to skills gaps resulting from formal education is the usefulness of TVET in ‘de-skilling
and re-skilling’ older employees. Working life and the labor market are extremely dynamic these days.
In the words of Mjelde for example;

….education is nowadays marked by diversity and motion, the only constant being change. Old traditions
and vocations and skills die out, and new ones emerge. We now talk about the new knowledge society
and the computer revolution’. The competencies that were needed to successfully practice trades, oc-
cupations; vocations or professions in the 1960s and 1970s are not the same today. (Mjelde, 2006 p.33)

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

Carberry et al (2015); Marope et al (2015); UNESCO-UNVECO (2013); ILO (2012); OECD (2010)
and Hager (2008) all share Mjelde’s views. Thus, the knowledge, skills and competencies one needs to
get employed in the first place; remain employed and efficient at work; in which the needed skills literally
change all the time. If Mjelde and others cited above are right (and there is every reason to believe they
are), then the knowledge and skills (work competencies) to have been provided by the education system
in Uganda over the last five decades since independence, are simply no-longer be relevant.
In addition, the Uganda Vocational Qualifications Framework (UVQF, 2009); the European Quali-
fications Framework, (EQF, 2008); Mjelde (2006) all add that it is only learning in TVET that can be
delivered in a flexible, modular, contextual, life-wide and as well as life-long manner as well as infor-
mally, making TVET the most appropriate form of education for mitigating the disorientation usually
brought about by the change from the comfort of academic school-life to the real-life challenges of the
labor market. Uganda’s BTVET Strategic Plan (2012), for example, specifically recommends that in
order to meet the unique labour requirements of the current Knowledge-based Economy (KbE) labour
market, keep up-to-date and remain relevant at work, the education and training system in Uganda must
change its curricula and delivery method. UNESCO-UNEVOC (2013) is also categorical when is says
that TVET; together with its other variants like Competence Based Education and Training (CBET),
Continuous Professional Development (CPD), Work Based Learning and Training (WBLT) etc, are the
remedy for the current education system’s seeming inability to keep up with the new demands of the
world of work.

Building Public-Private Partnership (PPPs)

TVET is further crucial in forging educational and training partnerships between and among educa-
tion stakeholders through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). This is the strategy by which different
educational stakeholders come together in a bid to align educational inputs (funds, teachers, learners,
curricula) as well as the training outcomes (knowledge, skills, attitudes, experiences, creativity and
innovation) to needs of the unique needs of the labor market, according to the BTVET Strategic Plan,
2012); African Union (AU, 2007).
Society and citizens usually expect some form of education or training from somebody; but usually
government (Chang & Chang, 2005 in Sang-Duk Choi, 2011). Government on the other hand develops
policy, regulation and is expected to provide funding. On their part, education/ training institutions pro-
vide the pool of trainees, apprentices and employees for the labor market. The labor market offers jobs
to graduates; while the labor unions are usually responsible for arbitration in case of differences. In the
USA for example, partnerships between formal learning contexts and other entities play an important
role in defining, theorizing and implementing Work Related Learning (WRL), Dirkx (2011).

Socio-Economic Inclusion and Stability

In addition to the ‘from school-to-work transition’ of young people and graduates TVET is also poten-
tially useful in bringing about socio-economic inclusion, peace and stability. Unemployed and redundant
youth or graduates are a potential threat to social and political instability of nations, and has been found
to prevent economies from realizing the full potential of their labor forces; in a way constraining pro-
ductivity and economic growth (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2014). As Steedman (2008 p.164) said, TVET in
the form of highly specialized apprenticeships has been found to ‘boost the chances of successful labour

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

market transitions and job access for young people and/ or graduates compared to those with the same,
or similar school-based qualifications’. Marope et al (2015) add that providing skills through TVET to
these groups opens the potential contribution of TVET to shared growth and inclusive development
through the uptake of employment in the informal sector, which tends to be predominantly rural dwell-
ers, women and the youth. Uganda is currently facing the brunt of demonstrations by job-demanding
youth/and or graduates from such groups as the ‘the jobless brotherhood’. Unemployment in Uganda is
rather high, estimated to be at 83 per cent (AfDB, 2013).
Mohammed Buazizi, an unemployed Tunisian graduate; who doused in petrol and burnt to death in
2012, igniting the ‘Arab Spring’ in North Africa was a university graduate protesting prolonged unem-
ployment. And such is the risk awaiting most Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations if their millions of
‘educated but unemployed’ young graduates are not quickly assisted to transition from school-life to
working-life in a sustainable manner. The African Development Bank (AfDB, 2013) is in agreement
when it observes: ‘the potential consequences of the tension between an increasing output of educated
and trained young people and the limited absorptive capacities of labor markets has been illustrated by
the recent wave of discontent sweeping North Africa; adding that: the underlying conditions may in
various ways be dormant and latent in other parts of the continent.
In addition, demand driven TVET in the form of apprentices is also known to cater for the educational
needs of what Steedman (2010) calls ‘the other half’ – his reference to youth (school drop-outs in the
case of Uganda), who do not go on to join higher education and have no preparation of any sort for the
labor market and employment. Carberry et al. (2015) and CEDEfOP (2012) describe this category of
young people as those Not in Employment, Education or further Training, NEET. TVET in the form
of apprenticeships is especially helpful in enabling nations sail through disruptive economic times. For
instance, Germany and France are said to have come through the 2008-2012 world economic recession
relatively unscathed, and are reported to have posted excellent economic performances as well as stable
youth employment rates because of their robust TVET systems.

Integrating Creativity, Innovation, and Personal Enterprise

TVET has also proved important because it gives both the learners and their tutors (teachers) the freedom
to bring into the educational processes their Creativity, Innovation and Personal Enterprise (CIPE), as
opposed to only what has been prescribed by the designers of school curricula. In the view of Mjelde
(2006), such pre-defined teaching and learning curriculum is usually only derived and limited to the
teacher’s knowledge bases. Marope et al. (2015) found out that TVET affects the labour markets posi-
tively through the production of graduates who have the entrepreneurial skills to create businesses, jobs
and work opportunities compared to their counterparts in academic and/ or higher education; because
as Jakes (2015) correctly observed, one cannot be truly creative or innovate except when they break
some rules. Unfortunately, in a developing country such as Uganda, teaching and learning (education) is
still heavily centered on the teacher and what they know or don’t know; a factor that effectively ensures
that the creativity or innovation of the learner is locked out of the learning process. Additionally, the
power imbalance between learner and teacher or mentor in an educational arrangement like Uganda’s
is sure to bring about tension between the two parties. The teacher’s position cannot be questioned for
whatever reason.
Scholars such as (Nilsson, 2011; Mjelde, 2006) have lauded TVET as the most democratic peda-
gogical approach, as teaching and learning allow for a multi-directional flow of knowledge and ideas.

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

As Mjelde rightly observed; and echoed by Nilsson (2011), ‘TVET does not take learners to be some
kind of empty containers only waiting to be filled by knowledge from the teacher’ (Mjelde, 2006 p. 8).
TVET is thus democratic in sense that it allows not just the learner and teacher, but in some cases, even
the labour market and the community i. e. final consumers of knowledge and skills from education and
training (labor) to have a say in the educational process. As (Dryefus, 2001 in Hager, 2008) said, it is
only through a TVET learning environment that usually new, creative and sometimes contextual ideas
from both the learner and teacher (instructor) can be made to count. As Claxton et al (2010 p.54) said,
‘new knowledge and skills must be tested, experiments tried out, mistakes made and lessons learned in
more applied ways than merely writing about how one would tackle a particular hypothetical problem
in a theoretical exam or assignment.’ In addition, teaching and learning in TVET are circumstantial and
usually constructed in response to prevailing societal challenges.

Table 1. Real life examples of the success of TVET’s Philosophy of ‘learning by doing’

The overall goal of education is said to be work-readiness, employment, productivity, wealth creation and socio-economic development.
But for some reason, education systems in developing countries such as Uganda leave out work in their teaching and learning continuum;
usually until after training. And yet both current and past economic, wealth creation and distribution patterns in the world indicate that
genuinely wealthy individuals (past and present) were, in a way, ‘self-made’ as they learnt informally, through work, at work and through
‘learning by doing’. These individuals got wealthy by deploying their Creativity, Innovation and Personal Enterprise (CIPE) skills. In the
early part of the 20th century, for example, there were Alfred Nobel of Switzerland and Henry Ford of USA. Mr. Ford was not even educated
at all, at least in the sense in which that term is used nowadays (Hill, 1983). Contemporary wealthy citizens in the world who appear to have
learnt through TVET’s ‘learning by doing’ principle include Bill Gates of Microsoft, John Dell of Dell computers, Jeff Bezos of Amazon
and Mark Zuckerburg of Face book; all of the USA. Of these, John Dell, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are not educated in the sense in
which the world uses that term as they are without awarded college degrees! And the story is no different for Uganda and Africa’s current
wealthiest individuals either. Like Bill Gates, John Dell and Mark Zuckerburg of the USA; Uganda prides itself in Sudhir Ruperialia,
Bulaimu M. Kibirige, Gordon Wavamuno and the late James Mulwana (RIP). Nigeria has Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Folorunsho
Alakija, Theophilus Danjuma and Tony Elumelu. Egypt has Nassef Sawiris, Mohamed Mansour, Youssef Mansour and Yasseen Mansour;
whereas in South Africa, there is Nicky Oppenheimer, Koos Becker, Christoffel Wiese and Patrice Motsepe. These persons crafted their
own paths to the billionaire club by individual initiative and creativity; the majority of them informally, through ‘learning by doing’ that is
characteristic of learning in TVET.
There is, however, one common denominator among all the wealthy individuals here listed – i.e. college degree or not, they somehow found a
way of integrating their knowledge bases (formal or informal) into some form of ‘doing’, activity or practice. Thus, the contemporary education
system’s confinement of teaching and learning to the four walls of the class room and pre-determined curricula, as is the case in Uganda is
out-rightly silly. And if, indeed, the goal of education is work, then simple logic would have it that any work-intended education should be
accompanied by explicit, definite and contextual practices; or there will be no productive and tangible competency outcomes (skills) for the
learner; except perhaps the usual diploma or degree certificates. Only TVET provides the formal, informal as well as non-formal pedagogic
environments for the learner and tutor (teacher) to exercise their Creativity, Innovation and Personal Enterprise (CIPE), as well as the flexibility
and the freedom to act outside of prescribed curricula and the confines of the four walls of the classroom. From the authors’ own teaching
experiences, there is little CIPE (if ever) a learner can bring to a learning environment of pre-set curricula of the formal educational system.
In fact the authors wonder whether Microsoft Corporation would have been born at all had Mr. Gates not left Harvard University in 1975!
Thus the individuals mentioned in this writing conceived their ideas (were creative & innovative); refused to let their ideas be restricted by
pre-determined curricula and/ or authority (informal), and somehow acted on their ideas (practice or praxis), in the process birthing their
separate business empires and the billions of dollars (tangible outcomes) they have. Most of all, there was little or no time lost between the time
of initiating their ideas and putting those ideas into practice, or what, from Mjelde (2006), the authors have learnt to call learning by doing.
Would any educationist out there still say that teaching and learning (education) do not occur inside Bill Gates’ Microsoft workshop during
development of computer software? Of course it does; the only difference is that learning at Microsoft is informal (i.e. not sanctioned by
a particular educational authority and occurs at the workshop rather than the classroom; has silent curricula that is flexible, tacit and not
captured). But it still amounts to education or learning anyway - and comprehensive and meaningful education at that; as it has tangible
outcomes or outputs in the form of jobs, computer software as well as billions of dollars in profit for Mr. Gates and his company.
Adapted from Dukcevich, 2001
Source: Authors

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

CHALLENGES FACING TVET AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS FOR UGANDA

TVET in Uganda faces a myriad of challenges the magnitude of which a single writing like this one
cannot do justice to. However, in order to make sense of the complexities and contradictions surround-
ing education in Uganda in general and TVET in particular, the authors have broadly categorized them
into eight major areas:

Philosophical Dis-Orientation

Perhaps the utmost challenge of TVET in Uganda is the inverted educational thinking. The practice
of TVET in Uganda is heavily influenced by the old educational philosophy of Plato and Aristotle of
between 427-322 B.C. The two thinkers were the elite of their time and therefore very influential. Plato,
for example, reasoned that ‘the cultivation of the mind is the highest human activity, with the lesser
activities such as work; being necessary only in as far as they support engagement in the higher activi-
ties’ (Plato in Winch, 2006 & in Hager, 2008 p. 22). This position was radicalized even more by Plato’s
student Aristotle who asserted that ‘reflection i.e. (thinking), philosophy and political engagement are
the highest human activities; with physical (vocational) activity being the province of slaves’ (Winch,
2006; in Hager, 2008 p.22). The implications of this for Uganda’s education system are several: first,
this philosophy has misled educational stakeholders to continue holding in high esteem the propositional
(declarative) knowledge usually acquired through the rote recitation of academic facts (Kasozi, 2015b;
GWPE, 1992). Secondly, this thinking has led to the restriction of teaching and learning to within the
four walls of the classroom; remote from its original intention of work or employment and the work-
place. And there is a risk that in sticking with Plato and Aristotelian educational philosophy, Uganda
might be implementing its BTVET Strategic Plan in much the same way as ABET (ILO, 2010); and
the result are the millions of educated but unemployed graduates (see AU, 2007; Amedzro, 2005). The
third implication of this philosophy is that times have long changed since Plato and Aristotle’s liberal
(academic) educational paradigm of over 2600 years ago. As Berlin (1969; in Hager, 2008 p.22) said, the
prime purpose of liberal education was ‘to expand an individual’s mind’ most probably with theoretical
knowledge. Thus, education, as influenced by Plato and Aristotle and as practiced in Uganda today can
only be a fraction of the whole, since its outcomes are limited to cognitive skills only (ILO, 2012 in
Kiryowa, 2016; Kasozi, 2015b; GWPE, 1992). Therefore, an education without the work-related psycho-
motor and affective skills is incomplete. The two forms of skills (psycho-motor and affective) can only
be acquired at the workplace, through work and during work. And as Dreyfus put it, ‘practices cannot
be explicated theoretically’ (Dreyfus (2001 in Hager, 2008 p.34); and that ‘skilled practice cannot be
reduced to mere rule following of the formal educational curriculum’.
Uganda’s solution to this challenge should be an educational thought re-orientation plan, especially
targeting policy, funding, delivery methods and venue, assessment and evaluation, level of training etc.

The Low Status and Esteem of TVET

Compared to its Academic Based Education and Training (ABET) counterpart, TVET or BTVET in
Uganda is overshadowed in both popularity and esteem (Mande, 2013; BTVET Plan, 2012; AU, 2007;
Ssekamwa & Lugumba, 2001; Ssekamwa, 1998; GWPE, 1992). In Uganda, as appears to be the case
in the rest of Sub-Saharan African (SSA), TVET has been condemned to the second class, inferior, low

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

status. For instance, TVET is always considered a last resort educational path (BTVET, 2012; Okello,
2010; 2008; Green, 1999 in Winch (2006); Highland, 2008; Amedzro, 2005; Ssekamwa, 1997). In
Uganda, and for both parents and learners alike, as well the policy makers; all (silently) seem to hold
the attitude that TVET is for academic failures (Basudde, 2016).

….in many countries the public in general do not favor TVET, with a significant number still regarding
it as second best, or even a last resort educational choice. Although this negative perception is slowly
changing, and varies within populations and the different forms of TVET, many people around the world
still find TVET unattractive; and is considered secondary to academic tertiary education programmes.
This is particularly so where TVET programmes are perceived as leading to less prestigious career
paths, to lower prospects for high earnings once employed; or to poor prospects for further education
and training. (Marope, Chakroun & Holmes, 2015 p.13).

However, as the authors have pointed out already, the challenge of low esteem of TVET is not limited
to Uganda as developing nation. For instance, Lucas & Claxton (2011), vented out their frustration re-
garding the stigma toward TVET in Britain when they said ‘it is abundantly clear that despite some real
interest, Practical and Vocational Education (PVE) still faces an up-hill struggle to achieve its rightful
status alongside the more esteemed academic education route and achievements’. Carberry et al. (2015)
were even more pessimistic in their assessment of the low esteem of TVET in Britain when they wrote:
‘it is quite clear that our education system has failed to provide a vocational pathway comparable in
quality and reputation to the academic educational route.’
From the point of view of the authors, the solution to this challenge for Uganda would be what Ma-
clean & Pavlova (2011); in Marope, Chakroun & Holmes, 2015) call ‘hybridization’ of the educational
process and qualifications - by hybridization, it is meant an arrangement in which combined doses of
both academic and vocational (trade) education/ trainings are delivered interchangeably, throughout a
learner’s course of studies. Uganda, should, for instance, pro-actively promote graduate level training
(Post-graduate Diploma, Masters, PhD and post-doctoral research) for its BTVET educational sub-
sector (Marope, Chakroun & Holmes, 2015; Naluwooza in Basudde, 2016). This is a routine Human

Table 2. A real case of the negativity toward TVET in Uganda

The narrative about the challenge of the low esteem of B(TVET) in Uganda would be incomplete without a description of personal experience
with an encounter with the incidence of the misguided popularity of Academic Based Education and Training (ABET) over its Technical,
Vocational Education and Training (TVET) counterpart. On Monday 24th March 2014, the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) of
Uganda put out an external job advert seeking to fill several vacant positions, among them the position of accountant. A long-time friend
who is a fully Certified Public Accountant (CPA) asked me to deliver an application on his behalf for the post of Senior Internal Auditor
(SIA) since he lives upcountry. Long story short: the officer in- charge of receiving job applications on that fateful day resolutely rejected
my friend’s application on the basis that he did not have a ‘university degree certificate’ among his educational documents. In the view of
this officer, my CPA friend ‘was not qualified’; as measured by the lack of a degree transcript! My explanation to the parliamentary officer
of the superiority of the vocational nature of the CPA candidate’s qualifications fell on deaf ears.
The candidate on whose behalf I was applying is vocationally trained; branching off from academic education, from the level of Uganda
Certificate of Education (UCE), went on to pursue a certificate in basic accounting and book keeping; he moved on to acquire a Diploma in
Accounting & Finance (AF), and finally went through all the levels of Certified Public Accountancy (CPA) training. A full CPA qualification
is equivalent to a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) which means that my candidate was more of a more qualified accountant than
his bachelor’s academic degree holding counterparts. So labelling such a candidate as ‘not qualified’ by a Human Resource practitioner is
not only indicative of the unpopularity of TVET, but also the level of ‘pedagogic illiteracy’ in Uganda. And such are the socio-economic
injustices meted out to the vocationally gifted learners, and all because of the misguided popularity of the academic form of education.
Source: Authors

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

Resource Development (HRD) strategy in ABET, there is therefore no reason it cannot be adopted and
used to uplift the status and esteem of TVET. This is why Jarvinen (2014) in Eremu (2015) advises that
government in Uganda together with all other educational stakeholders should appreciate and accredit
education and training wherever they occur, and in whatever form, including informal and non-formal.

Corruption and TVET in Uganda

Over the past two decades, Uganda has scored highly on virtually every annual global corruption index,
especially regarding the pilferage of public funds. The World Bank Group (WBG, 2014) for example,
estimates that Uganda loses up to a third of its GDP to public corruption. Vocational education and
training is intricately linked to the vice of corruption because it is a costly form of education in terms
of equipment, tools and materials needed for training (AfDB, 2013; BTVET, 2012; AU, 2007). This
factor makes TVET especially susceptible to corrupt tendencies. In addition, technical and vocational
projects such as building and construction usually involve huge sums of money, a situation which can
be very tempting to ethically and morally bankrupt public officials. For example, in November 2015,
a government minister in charge of the Ministry of Transport was arrested and arraigned in court in
connection to the theft of part of 167 billion Uganda shillings or about (50 million USD) meant for the
construction of the 120 kilometer Mukono-Katosi road.
The procurement cycle in Uganda is also unnecessarily long and complicated, again providing fertile
ground for corruption in form of connivance to hike prices of goods and services; in addition to the
supply of sub-standard materials and services. This is why government of Uganda recently instituted
a judicial Commission of inquiry to look into the theft of billions of tax payer funds meant for its road
projects around the country.
In addition to the need for transparency in the procurement processes of materials and services for
technical and vocational projects, the authors suggest that educational policy makers and implementers
in Uganda make ethics an integral part of the TVET programs. This is what Nilsson (2010) seemed to
imply in his 5T theory when he named Trust, the Tutor (teacher), Tasks, Time and Tools as crucial
factors in the effective delivery of TVET. In addition, penalties for thieving government officials should
be more severe than is the case at the moment.

Separation of Teaching and Learning from Work

TVET in Uganda also faces the deep-rooted separation of education from its ultimate goal of work, em-
ployment and the workplace venue. Informed by the delivery strategy of academic based education and
training (ABET), teaching and learning are to the classroom as work or employment is to the workplace.
The only relationship between education and work in Uganda’s education or training system is the two,
or three weeks of internship training, school practice or field attachment, and the near-permanent job
searches after training. From his seven-stage model of skill acquisition and expertise, Dryefus, 2001 in
Hager, 2008) noted that embodied capacities for action combine intellectual as well as (psycho) motor
skills. Going by the thinking of Dryefus therefore, separation of education and work means the delivery
of only one type of knowledge and skills, i.e. the cognitive. The unprecedented incidence of unemploy-
ment among the youth and graduates in Uganda might be a strong indicator of such a separation of
teaching and learning from work.

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

Table 3. Common dichotomies dividing vocational and academic pedagogies

B(TVET) V/S ABET

Failures Versus Bright
Informal/ non- versus Formal
Practical versus Theoretical
Experiential versus Education
Training versus Intellectual
Physical versus Theory
Action versus Academy
The Workplace versus Classroom
Adapted from Cairns & Malloch, 2011

Museveni (2013) described formal (academic) form of education as a luxury for the rich. This is
similar to what had been echoed much earlier in history by the Protestant-oriented educational views
in England in the early parts of the 20th century, that referred to education without accompanying work
as ‘the idleness of aristocracy’ (Oelkers, 2008 p. 207). On his part, Hager (2008) argues that ‘the form
of learning that is necessary for competence at work is simply not the kind to be developed apart from
practice in actual workplaces.’
Initially, however, these dichotomous educational terms were meant to compliment rather than
antagonize one another, in much the same way theory and practice (or procedural knowledge) were
meant to be; and with no time lag during the application of the two forms of knowledge (Nilsson, 2011;
Applebaum, 1986 in Mjelde, 2009). Because as Hager (2008) says, a gradaute who is both competent
and work-ready is one who has accumulated both forms of knowledge; and has developed the know-how
to translate theory into practice resulting into tangible outcomes.
As a solution, Uganda would be well advised to adopt and develop a dual apprenticeship training
delivery strategy such as the one in Germany (see Hager, 2008 and Petrosky, 1998).

Orthodoxy and Allegiance to Old Traditions

Education and training in Uganda seem to have paid blind allegiance to tradition and orthodoxy in its
delivery, even when such methods and traditions might be way past their time. The Organization for
Economic Corporation and Development, OECD (2004); Mjelde (2006); the World Bank Group, WBG
(2010); ILO (2012) and UNESCO (2012), all content that times have changed and radically so. However
for one reason or the other, Uganda’s education system continues to do the same thing and somehow
seems to hope for different results. Carberry et al. (2015 p.10) summed up this thinking up when they
said, ‘it is quite clear that our education system has failed to provide a vocational pathway comparable
in quality and reputation to the academic higher education route.’ Resistance to the transition to TVET
in Uganda is manifest in four key areas: funding, curricula, delivery methods/venue and policy. The
biggest hurdle of them all, however, is misguided policy. This is has implications for educational reform
because nothing moves until policy has, since, traditionally, the policy people are closer to the political
powers that be.
And so because of the strong legacy of the Academic Based Education and Training (ABET) in
Uganda, there is real risk that even the much touted (Business, Technical, Vocational Education and
Training (BTVET) intervention project is already towing the line of ABET in terms of delivery, gover-

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

Table 4. Traces of TVET’s linkage to efficacy at work: lessons from ancient history and theology

Evidence abounds to the effect that education at work and through work might be the norm rather than the exception. In the early Protestant
Church oriented education in England for example, learning without work was regarded as ‘the idleness of aristocracy’ (Oelkers, 2008 p.
207). Recent educational history in Uganda also indicates that ‘informal teaching and learning; through learning by doing’ or TVET for
that matter; was the form of education Ugandans and Africans in general practiced before the British substituted it with the current formal
academic education (Okello, 2010, Ssekamwa & Lugumba, 2001; Ssekamwa, 1997). In the Teso sub-region of Eastern Uganda for example,
boys and girls learnt informally from their parents, members of the community as well as their elder siblings. The boys accompanied and
watched their fathers, uncles and elder brothers herd cattle (the major economic activity then), hunt wild game for meat and erect mud
and wattle huts for shelter. Similarly, girls and younger women learnt by hanging around homesteads and participatorily observing and
helping their mothers, aunts and elder sisters at domestic chores such as winnowing and grinding millet grain for family dinner. In that way,
indigenous and authentic knowledge, skills and character (competencies) for work were informally developed, and passed, and with no time
lag in applying or integrating theory with practice. There certainly was no paradox of ‘the educated but unemployed’ youth.
Even much earlier in history is the fact that many biblical excerpts indicate that the first example of education or teaching and learning for
that matter (lessons, instructions and impartation of knowledge) given to mankind fully met all the vocational criteria and were therefore
vocational in nature i.e. education occurred in an informal setting (Garden of Eden); had no pre-determined curricula and there was no
diploma or degree certificate awarded.

In the beginning Godcreated(activity/ work) the heavens and the earth…….Godmadetwo great lights – the greater one (the sun) to rule over
the day and the moon to rule over the night. He alsomade(activity/ work) the stars. Godcreated(work) the great creatures of the sea and
every living and moving thing with which the water is teeming. And by the seventh day, God had finished theworkhe had been doing. Then
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on this day, He rested from all thework of creatingwhat He had beendoing......Then
the Lord Godtook(action) the man (Adam) and put him in the Garden of Eden toworkit andtake care(work) of it. (Holy Bible, Genesis 1 &
2; Verses 2-15, Today’s New International Version, 2001pp 1-2)

Curiously, the Holy Bible, which, probably, is the closest there is to the beginning of human history, has been left out of the education-work/
employment narrative. The Holy Bible, for instance, appears explicit in its description of the original intent of the relationship between
education, work and their outcomes. First, education (teaching & learning) was meant to follow from; or at least occur concurrently with
work. Second, teaching and learning were meant to lead to tangible end products; and not just paper certificates; implying that the earliest
form of education was indeed vocational.
Only TVET meets the conditions of vocational learning such as learning through doing as prescribed by the Holy Bible and practiced in
Uganda and elsewhere in the world before the advent of the current Plato and Aristotelian educational philosophy. And so to all purposes
and intents, the prevailing graduate unemployment crisis in Uganda might be as a result of the education system veering-off its original
path as designed by the Creator.
Adapted from Oelkers (2008); the Holy Bible (2001) and Hill, 1983.
Source: adapted from Okello (2010) and the Holy Bible (2001).

nance, curricula, assessment and certification. The African Development Bank AfDB (2013) concurs with
this position in a critique of the quality of the education and training systems of many African nations.
And like its counterpart ABET, the 2012-2021 BTVET educational reform intervention project ap-
pears to be delivered in just the same way as ABET. Nakanda (2016), for instance contends that BTVET
has largely remained formal in much the same way as ABET i.e. delivery has remained confined to the
four-walled class or lecture rooms; curricula is still pre-determined and fossilized; whereas assessment
and validation are through the usual paper certificates and not work competency practices/ skills that
they ought to be.
If there is consensus that education is the means by which we build knowledge, skills, or competencies
for work and employment; then education and work can only be two sides of the same coin; and should
therefore be delivered concurrently. Unfortunately, most educational practitioners and policy makers even
in Uganda still view education and work as ‘strange bed-fellows’ (White, 1997 in Hager 2008 p.23). To
this category of educationists, teaching and learning must be to the school and/ or classroom; whereas
work and employment are to the factory or workplace. ‘For this group, the idea of education at work,
during or through work is self-contradictory and is therefore not a viable option’ (Hager, 2008 p.22).

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

The solution for Uganda would be to initiate a strategic change management process in the structure
and culture of its education and training system. As suggested by the BTVET Strategic Plan (2012-2021)
and Mjelde (2006), there should be a ‘paradigm shift’ – i.e. a shift from the usual subject content as the
curricula to the actual work tasks or practices; from academic school boards to Sector Skills Councils
(SSCs); from certificates to work/ employment competencies; from learning by rote recitation and theo-
rization to ‘learning by doing’ and practice; from teaching and learning in the classroom (workshop or
laboratory) to teaching and learning in the workplaces as the delivery venue; from academic knowledge
of job-seeking graduates to the creativity, innovative and enterprising job creators; thereby facilitating
skill portability and mobility and enhancing employability (G20, 2013 in Marope, Chakroun and Hol-
mes, 2015).

The High Cost of TVET and Funding Gap

Like is the case in most parts of the developing world, funding for TVET in Uganda is comparatively
low (AfDB, 2013; BTVET, 2012; National Council of Higher Education NCHE, 2011; Kasozi, 2009;
Government White Paper on Education, GWPE, 1992). According to the Education Sector Investment
Plan (ESIP), for example, on average, it requires about 7 Billion Uganda Shillings (UGX) or about 2 Mil-
lion United States Dollars (USD) to establish a fully equipped and functional vocational training school
or institute, compared to just 700 million UGX or 200,000 USD for an academic secondary school. The
African Union (AU, 2007) seems to share this sentiment when it said that productive technical training;
with relevant and positive impact on the labour market are extremely costly ventures; and that this is
especially compounded by the weak economies of many Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) nations. Uganda
is one nation in SSA with such a weak economy. However, the challenge of high costs of TVET is not
limited to Uganda or Sub-SSA, for that matter. Available literature indicates that world-wide; TVET
systems are expensive, inefficient and even unresponsive (Marope, Chakroun & Holmes, 2015). The
solution to the high cost of delivering TVET for Uganda would be for it to develop and cultivate more
training cooperation, through the formation of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP); or what others have
called Industry Institute Partnerships (IIPs); similar to the German dual apprenticeship model. PPPs are
legal cooperation frameworks that guide stakeholder obligations in the delivery of functional TVET. The
PPPs spell-out the role of each stakeholder in terms of funding, organization, curriculum development
and delivery. The stakeholders might usually include but not limited to industry, business, workplaces,
Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as well as Faith Based Organizations (FBOs). The goal here
is to share and spread the usually high cost of technical and vocational training. Uganda’s Business,
Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) Strategic Plan (2012-2021), for example, rec-
ommends that PPPs be developed and expanded in Uganda; calling on private institutions and BTVET
players like the Uganda Association of Private Vocational Institutions (UGAPRIVI); as well as private
individuals to be empowered to do more in delivering BTVET, especially at the local and informal levels.
Petrosky gives a model of how the German dual TVET system spreads and shares training costs among
stakeholders. For the German PPP dual apprenticeship funding model (see Soskice in Petrosky, 1998)

The Dis-Oriented Educational Policies

As a developing country, Uganda still faces the challenge of the dominant culture of the old academic
based education and training (ABET) in all sectors of its governance, public and social life. Some in-

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

dicators of the alleged bias may be seen from: the majority of senior staff in the Ministry of Education,
Science, Technology and Sports (MESTS) are of academic educational orientation (BTVET, 2012). And
when job adverts are published, all the qualifying requirements are usually strictly academic in nature.
Most of all, decisions regarding education are usually made under the Ministry of Education, Science,
Technology and Sports’ (MoESTS) Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) mechanism which is dominated by
general (academic) education officers, and who might therefore only have limited or no interests at all
in TVET.
The solution to this challenge is for Uganda to initiate a strategic change management process in the
management of its educational sector; especially regarding the structure (composition), practice and
thought or its belief system. Specifically, there should be strategic change in the delivery of education
from the usual theory to practical teaching. This is why Museveni has been steadfast in his advice to
the youth in Uganda to acquire practical skills rather than the usual degree paper certificates if they
are to improve their chances for employability; and in that regard the President has promised to take
personal responsibility, promising to personally meet the cost of re-tooling (re-skilling) all unemployed
university graduates with relevant employment skills (Okanya, 2015) if he is re-elected to lead Uganda
for the period 2016-2021.

CULTURE AND TVET IN UGANDA

Culture cannot be separated from any human activity, much less education and training (UNESCO-
UNEVOC, 2013; Korhonen, 2010; ILO, 2010). For instance, gender stereotyping as a cultural aspect is
still prevalent in Uganda, with the majority of Ugandans still harboring strong beliefs that TVET and
education in general should be provided along strict gender lines.
In their study of culture and education among the rural primary schools in West Nile region of Uganda
for example, Ngaka and Openjuru (2012) found that culture was a major determinant of the form of
education of the communities in West Nile region of Uganda. And according to Okinyal, Kitunze and
Kisirisa, 2014; in Nakajubi (20160, many Ugandan youth have been barred from their dream careers,
trades, occupations or vocations because society has generally assigned those trades according to gender.
For example, traditionally, in the Nkore or Gganda cultures of western and central Uganda respectively,
culture prohibits women and girls from climbing trees and other tall objects like buildings. Such beliefs
have a direct negative consequence on female participation in TVET related fields such as building and
civil engineering as their participation in the learning activities to become building engineers is then
limited. In the same vein, cultural beliefs in Uganda impose limitations on what subjects and roles women
and men can or cannot undertake. UNESCO (2012 p.16) is cognizant of this fact, when it said that ‘for
the developing world, gender barriers are reflected in enrolment in education and training programmes,
including its breakdown by individual sub-groups such as sexuality, socioeconomic background, par-
ticipation by sector and profession etc’. Similarly, Ugandan education literature espouses the thinking
that Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is the educational route for the less endowed
academically (BTVET Act, 2008; Ssekamwa & Lugumba, 2007; Ssekamwa, 2001 and GWPE, 1992).
IN Uganda, TVET remains a last resort educational route (BTVET, 2012); with the bias toward TVET
validated by such things as the comparatively lower enrollment in the technical and vocational programs
(Kasozi, 2015a & NCHE, 2010). This appears to be a dominant sentiment in most of Sub-Saharan Africa
(SSA) as well (AU, 2007 & Amedzro, 2005).

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Rationale and Challenges of Technical Vocational Education and Training in Uganda

CONCLUSION

Education and training are the supply side of any economy, whereas the job market and business enter-
prises (the labor market) are the demand side; thus, the educational form chosen by developing nation
Uganda is of critical importance. In respect of the basic law of demand and supply therefore, Uganda’s
education system has no choice but to produce graduates with the skills needed by the labor market. The
Aristotelian Academic Based Education and Training (ABET) which Uganda has practiced since political
independence from Britain might no-longer be relevant in making its youth and graduates employable;
especially given the unique and ever changing sets of skills demands of the current Knowledge-based
Economy (KbE) labor market. Indeed, the high incidence of unemployed youth and graduates is indica-
tive of this fact. Despite the many challenges it faces, however, Technical, Vocational Education and
Training (TVET) has been found to be the form of education for building relevant work competencies
(Carberry et al, 2015; Marope, Chakroun & Holmes, 2015; UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2013; BTVET Plan,
2012; Hager, 2008; Ssekamwa, 1997 and GWPE, 1992). Indeed for the case of a developing nation
like Uganda, TVET is the only educational pathway by which to develop authentic work competencies
among the youth and graduates; thereby ensuring their employability, productivity, economic empow-
erment, social inclusion and stability; as well as national development in an ecologically sensitive and
sustainable manner.

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