National skills development strategy key to tackle youth unemployment

These included the challenges of pursuing of employment policies that are aimed at creating a conducive environment for investment and development of the private sector.

Unemployment is a major crisis we should not ignore. According to the 2000/2001 Integrated Labour Force Survey, the population of Mainland Tanzania was 32.8 million people, of which 17.8 million people constituted the country’s total labour force. Of these, 15.5 million (87.1 percent) were employed and 2.3 million (12.9 percent) were unemployed. Of the employed 14.6 million (94 percent) were fully employed while 950,427 (6 percent) were under-employed.

Youth are the most affected group, 17 percent of whom are unemployed as compared to 12.9 percent of the general unemployment rate in Tanzania. By 2004/2005, in Zanzibar, the youth unemployment rate was estimated at 20 percent.

Although the above mentioned data is a bit outdated but it still valid to shows the picture on youth unemployment, as the trend has been increasing since then.

Unemployment of young graduates is a global issue, which need to be discussed and put effective strategies to solve it. The question of unemployment has different perspectives in each country, related to the particular social and economic system of a country. And there is no any standard instrument and mechanisms for measuring the seriousness of this social problem.

However, learning from experience have shown that different social problems emerge due to youth unemployment such as inferiority complex, lack of responsibilities, hooliganisms, substance abuse and many others as unemployment reduces the quality of the young people in the society, as they cannot contribute any resources towards family or societal development.

There are a number of other reasons apart from lack of skills which are being termed as causes of unemployment of our youth.

The mismatch between economic growth and the population of students’ enrolment may cause unemployment. Our economy is still lagging behind, as it does not stimulate on maximizing opportunities for employment.

However it should be understood that, when the population has grown, the whole economy (including the labour force, production, market) should also naturally grow, so the education resources and demands should match accordingly. The mismatch of this brings about the problem of unemployment to our young graduates.

In conclusion, in order to address the concerns in respect of inadequacy of skills among our youth including soft skills, the Curricula should include the teaching of life skills, focusing on communication skills, personal and interpersonal effectiveness, thinking and problem solving skills, team building skills, service excellence, and career development and planning.

This should be supported by extra-curricula activities such as Debate clubs aiming at enhancement of communication skills; students be encouraged to undertake community, volunteerism and/or cultural works so as to enhance leadership skills, team building and team work, self-initiatives, self-drive, ethical issues; sports and wellness activities.

Consolidation and expansion of Technical and Vocational Education and Training system is a matter of urgency: Vocational Education and Training system in particular is uniquely positioned to impact national development as it is responsible for producing the shop-floor workers an all sectors of the economy including the informal sector. It plays critical role on employment creation and can be a source of attracting foreign investment.

In this matter of urgency we need to recognise the important role of the private sector in driving economic growth and creating meaningful jobs for sustainable socio-economic growth.

We need to get away with conventional approaches in addressing unemployment as new strategies are urgently needed.

In order to flourish in the current market competition, businesses need high quality human resources who excel in areas of their specialization to enable them compete in the market.

A private-sector-led skills development strategy may bring about positive changes as private sector will be willing to invest in the implementation of this strategy and thus being one of areas for creating a more conducive environment for businesses to prosper and contribute more to economic growth and development.

The writer is a specialist in educational planning, economics, finance and policy/ He is reached through: masozi.nyirenda@gmail.com or +255754304181.