15 Mar 2016

The Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development Mr Fidelis Molao says good career guidance is critical if the young generation is to raise its aspirations and take advantage of opportunities made available to them.

Officially opening the Botswana Human Resource Development Skills Fair and Career Clinics on Monday in Gaborone, Mr Molao stated that tertiary education institutions must provide counselling and broader learning programmes in addition to specialised classroom based learning.

He stated that the career guidance clinics are intended to meaningfully engage with the youth who are the prospective 2016 cohort of tertiary education students.

Mr Molao highlighted that the clinics seek to help learners to explore and make informed decisions on intended career paths and create awareness on the life skills they require to reach their study goals at tertiary level.

He further noted that the event would also inform learners on all types of career opportunities available to them and their relevance to the needs of the economy of Botswana and global labour market trends.

“Recent observations and concerns about the prevailing skills mismatch and rampant youth unemployment prompted HRDC to devise innovative strategies to avert the situation hence the multipronged approach that entails the profiling of different sectors of this economy,” he said.

He indicated that student support and wellbeing is a gateway to student retention and success, not only in the academic goals but also in the social development.

The assistant minister said the HRDC has realised that exposing learners to this platform prepares them psychologically for tertiary life thus enabling them to make informed decisions.

HRDC Acting CEO Dr Patrick Molutsi stated that the fair has evolved since its inception in 2010, having introduced career clinics last year to discuss topical issues to ensure that learners make informed decisions in choosing their career paths.He said education should continuously focus on quality. He said the HRDC keeps on emphasising the need for relevant education to tertiary institutions.

Dr Molutsi said there is need to address the area of inclusive education so as to integrate disability into mainstream education.

He said through the clinics, learners would be able to interact with professionals from different industries to acquire information about what is needed to take up a career in the respective fields.The skills fair and career clinics will run until Saturday, alongside an exhibition of stalls by different tertiary institutions. Ends