This story cuts through the topics I've been contemplating lately, apprenticeship and seeking for jobs in PNG. The story of a first year university student who left his accounting studies because he cannot afford the tuition fees.
Trained by a woman truck driver to be a truckie and find job in PNG trucking industry. I liked the story.
If only we could have a wide range of second chances like this, available to many young Papua New Guineans who are leaving school at Grades 8, 10 and 12.
Here is the story as seen on the Facebook group Humans of Papua New Guinea.
“I went to university to study accounting but ended up becoming a truck driver instead.”“How did that happen?”“After...
PNG needs a good numbers of readies and truckies in the PNG Job seeking area. Many well trained skill Papua New Guineans are in the mining and oil and gas sectors at present. But the country also need a good number of skill people in other areas.
In 2013
there were 141 provincial vocational centres (up from 132 in 2009) and 9 technical
and business colleges in Papua New Guinea. The number of colleges excludes Police College, Bible Institutes and others that have opened recently.
In fact, the need to
improve Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) was well
documented since 2005, evident in TVET policy 2005 [pdf]. The case study by a Patrol Maino also provided a great deal of insight on expansion of
TVET titled Efforts
In Reorienting Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET) System In
Papua New Guinea (PNG) To The Global Economy[pdf, 2013]. The documents gave depth to developing TVET programs. These written documents explicitly echoed the need for government (who is the
driving force for change) to invest in training at vocational level for Grade 8 and Grade 10 school leavers. Had the government and TVET division of education had done it right, there would be a good number of skilled workers in the country by now. This does not mean either the government or the TVET division had done nothing. Actually they have done some fantastic jobs over the years. But, what is needed now is to take into account the HIGH number of students leaving school at the end of Grade 8 and Grade 10. There is an urgent need to look into expanding capacity, finding avenues for job placements for vocational trainees and helping them to find their place in the society- an attractive package has to be developed for them now. There are no more that 150 semi funded vocational centres and technical secondary schools around - not enough to take in a good number of Grade 8 and 10 drop-outs. As a result, the TVET division must realise how
important it has become of late.
The course work
and curricula, workshop practicals, work placement and continuous training are the main areas needed both the government and TVET division of education (urgent) attention. Government to put the money where its mouth is
Is it too late for
the government to take an interest in this forgotten generation? The answer is
no. It is not (never) too late. The need to harness the power of Grades 8 and 10 school-leavers is increasing as the number of these young people
leaving school increases. If this population is left to its own, the
nation will see a generation of unskilled young people who are good for
nothing, but burdensome.
Skills learnt early is vital. There is nothing wrong with the existing training provided at vocational and technical schools. The problem is that the national and provincial governments have been doing very little to improve vocational training in the country. In the past,
vocational training centres where set up to cater for the then Grade 6 school
leavers. However, with the structural change [1993], Grades 8 and 10 school leavers
have been competing for a space at vocational centres. Recent
figures showed that 96% of Grade 8 and 94% of Grade 10 students drop out of school. These group of kids have little or no chance
to enter a college, or institute or university. Many colleges and technical institutions are taking in Grade 12. The Grades 8 and 10 are the ones who are in desperate need for attention. These are the youths who between 15 and 18 years of age. We can not neglect them! There is a
genuine need for the government to develop a strong base by focusing on
vocational training for students leaving at Grades 8 and 10. There is a difference between building a skilled and
knowledgeable generation, and merely educating a population. Unless (and until)
the politicians and education leaders see this difference, their attempt to
achieve any development goals will be nothing but a wasted opportunity.
Each Local Level Government (LLG) to have a vocational training centre
To make a
difference is to invest in those 15 to 18 years old. Is it too much to ask?
Why not every Local Level Government is task with building its own
vocational training centre? Why shouldn't each LLG have its own technical secondary
school? Papua New Guinea has three hundred and twenty five (325) local level governmental boundaries. A government focused on developing its younger
generation must also have 325 vocational centres - 141 is not enough. A
responsible government must build 184 more vocational training centres. This is
the right thing to do if PNG is to harness the power in this forgotten generation.
I would
like to take a look at Pathway for Grade 12 – what is available for them and
how the school leavers can be seen to have fitted into the system. This will be
the next topic Teach Them How To Fish series on PNG Insight. ***Knowing how many of those institutions are available is not easy as no updated data is available online or I may not have seen any relevant data during my Internet search to compile this post. If you are reading this, you can do your part by including the institutions that are not available here – Wikipedia.