Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. In the Socratic dialogue Republic, Plato famously wrote; “Our need will be the real creator.”
When the need for something becomes essential, people are forced to find ways of getting it achieved.
The need of skilled workers in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized, even as the country’s learning system does not encouraged vocational and technical skills.
This lack of potential skilled graduates in the country has made many stakeholders to frown at the learning system that places supplementary lessons such as extra lessons and summer lessons over vocational education in Nigeria.
They decry the fact that technical training is one huge gap in Nigeria’s educational system. Hence, stakeholders who spoke on the decision of Ezenwa, who enrolled his teenage boy as mechanic apprentice, applauded the step taken by the parents to upskill the boy for the future workplace.
Ezenwa and his spouse (nwaanyị ocha) enrolled Chijioke, their son in a Mercedes-Benz repair course in Enugu, capital of Enugu State.
The boy was made to begin mechanic apprentice, learning how to repair Mercedes-Benz vehicles in September 2023. Chijioke spends his afternoons at his mechanic master’s shop after school, instead of going for home teaching or extra lessons that is common with the education system.
Commenting on this innovative approach of upskilling a child, Clarence, on his official X handle @AquarianGod1 called on Nigerian education policymakers to make vocational education compulsory, and to replace extra and summer lessons in every school.
“I wish @NigEducation will make it compulsory that every school should use lesson periods and summer holidays to teach their pupils and students’ practical handwork and creativity,” he stated.
Arákùnrin Adékúnlé, @NG_xcrest also supported the idea of vocational training in place of home lessons, and/or after school lessons.
“Instead of vocational training, we have home lesson, after class lesson (extra lesson), and we still have summer lesson with 14 subjects per session,” Adekunle queried.
Uju_Nwa, @LadyAnn57 said this is why she will never support extra lessons for children during the evenings, weekends and on holidays.
“Use those free days to teach your children handiwork and computer that will be useful to them in the future. Not every time Mathematics and English,” she said.
Similarly, Ada Odogwu said she would rather enrol her child in vocational training than enroll him in summer lessons, and she does not, the boy will stay at home, eat, play, get his hand dirty and sleep to his full till school resumes.
The pivotal roles of vocational and technical education in tackling unemployment in both developed and developing countries such as Nigeria cannot be overemphasised.
Vocational education has been an integral part of development strategies in many societies because of its impact on productivity and economic growth.
Christopher Itua, head of industrial services and development at the Institute for Industrial Technology (IIT), said vocational skills will not only transform Nigeria’s economy but will also elevate families from poverty.
According to a World Bank report, “Nigeria’s poverty rate in 2023 was estimated to have reached 38.9 percent, with an estimated 87 million Nigerians living below the poverty line, the world’s second-largest poor country after India.”
Nigeria’s population stood at 217 million, and of this number, youth account for about 70 percent (151 million), the ‘Worldometer’ 2022 report shows.
The country’s unemployment rate surged to five percent in the third quarter of 2023, leaving over 133 million Nigerians in multidimensional poverty.
Experts argue that the main factor escalating youth unemployment in Nigeria is the mismatch between skills acquired in schools and the skills needed by the labour market.
To address the surging youth unemployment rate, Kelvin Bob-Manuel, senior communications coordinator at West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE) said the organisation is tackling youth unemployment by teaching the self-motivated unemployed youth liabilities skills, and connecting them to work opportunities.
“We train youth on mostly soft skills, emotional intelligence, teamwork, time management and critical thinking, among others based on industry demand, and connect trainees with interview opportunities with business partners.
“We have a pool of businesses we partner with; we train, and ask companies if they have vacancies; then we connect the youth for interviews,” he said.
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