13 Sep 2017

Vocational education is the need for the hour, it trains young people for various jobs and helps them acquire specialised skills.

Member of Parliament for Boteti East, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe said during Boteti Brigade skills development exposition and prize awards 2017 held in Letlhakane recently that vocational education  could also be termed job-oriented education, as it helped a person become skilled in a particular field at a comparatively lower age.

He noted that those with ambitions to set up a small establishment of their own could enjoy the benefits of vocational education.

He indicated that there was job security in such courses as some industries conducted tests, took students at a young age and gave them specialised training to suit the needs of an employer.

The theory of universal syllabus for education, he said, did not suit a country like Botswana, citing that every area had its own needs and thus education into practice.

He said it helped the youth in picking up modern methods of farming or other related traditional vocations.

Mr Lelatisitswe stated that vocational courses were becoming more and more popular every year, adding that the new education policy clearly spelt out that vocalization should be introduced in schools and colleges all over the country.

Vocation based or job-oriented course, he said, had been introduced not only in high schools but also at degree level.

Several colleges in the country were running vocational courses and turning technically trained people in different fields.

“The day is not far off when there will be no unemployment in the country and we shall be able to usher in an era where every head is high, where every hand is busy, where every heart is happy,” he added.

Both education and success, he said, were relative concepts in the sense that there was a wide difference of opinion regarding what real education was and what real success was.
Mr Lelatisitswe stated that specialised knowledge gained through higher education opened opportunities in the form of well-paying jobs, with a challenging work profile.

He noted that while higher education may not guarantee success, it certainly puts an individual in a position to work with the best in the field and gain valuable experience, which helped one in long term pursuit of professional success.

Education that enabled individuals to succeed, he said, was not just the formal kind, but direct education that one gains through hands-on experience and working with masters in a field, which went beyond purely bookish knowledge, prepared one for success.

The importance of education,  he said lied in its ability to forge a man of character.  The salvation of Botswana,  he said was dependent  on strength of every citizen.
 

The Principal of Boteti Brigade Ms Pono Saubi said the rationale for the event was to sell vocational training as well as technical education to Batswana, hence skills exposition.

She said skills development was key to Botswana economic diversification, adding that an individual with a vocation would not seek employment, but  would be self employed. Ends