Leveraging Technical Education for Economic Growth
Question: How does technical education lead to economic growth?
Answer: Technical training which comes from technical education helps to build technical skills that drive industrialization. Industrialization of any nation has been fingered to be a major driver of economic growth. Where there is a large pool of labour skilled in technical skills and competencies that will be able to develop technology that will increase productivity, improve efficiency and spur economic and productive activities. This is the nexus between technical education enablement and its ability to provide skilled manpower needed to engage in productive activities that lead to economic growth.
Question: How can we address the skills gap in Nigeria?
Answer: There are numerous ways of addressing the skills gap in Nigeria and conducting a skills gap audit might open us up to the many opportunities available to address the skills gap in Nigeria. We can seek to transfer skills from highly skilled zones to our country. For example, the Chinese are building our rails while the Germans are working on improving our electricity through Siemens and other integrated power project plans. These countries bring in their skilled manpower to work on these projects. Nigerians can seek skills transfer arrangements with these countries and businesses. Also, we can seek a homegrown solution through policy intervention. One of the ways that we can explore is resuscitating our technical schools. We can also change our curriculum from primary school to grow the desire of students to learn vocational and technical skills which are pivotal to the nation's socio-economic development.
Question: What are the policies or institutional support that are necessary to have a vibrant technical education system?
Answer: There are policies such as the review of the school curriculum to mirror market realities making learning experiential, relevant and able to impact the economy of the nation. Institutional support can come in the form of streamlining the regulation and compliance of private players in the educational system. One of the challenges that most businesses face is the issue of regulation, compliance and collection issues such as taxes, levies and fees that are due to the government. We must create a conducive environment for businesses to thrive and technical education entrepreneurs and enterprises must be supported and not hounded by the government. We must seek to democratize learning. The oil and gas and service industries have shown the impact of democratizing the playing field as it brings competitiveness into the space.
Question: How can we change the perception of the youths in embracing technical education and generating massive enrolment opportunities for them?
Answer: The average Nigerian youth is resilient and resourceful but disenchanted about the nature of governance in Nigeria. Most youths state that the public service does not prioritize support activities that specifically address youth needs such as employment opportunities. The lack of support of technical education in terms of recognition for the youth service NYSC programme, the non-formalization of the sector, and the fragmented nature of operations do not inspire Nigerian youths who are technologically savvy, used to imported goods and services and highly aspirational to consider. While the provision of technical education support is not pronounced in Nigeria, it enjoys remarkable support, in China, Germany and even the United Kingdom. As we already know, these countries have a strong SME business framework. The overemphasis on white-collar jobs, the poor attitude of Nigerians in terms of remuneration for work done by skilled workers and the non-formalization of most skilled jobs will continue to be major challenges until we engage in a deliberate program of supporting, youths and interested white-collar workers to embrace technical and vocational skills that are complimentary to their current roles or those that they have some form of interest or expertise in.
Question: What are the roles of digital skills in the future of work?
Answer: Digital skills will pervade the world of work and the way work is done in the future. The introduction of AI alone over the last few years has sent shivers into the labour market. As conglomerates continue to use robots for large and precision-related work activities, the need to develop digital skills to function effectively in areas where robots are yet to be deployed will be more pronounced among workers.
Question: How can educational management draw private sector partnerships needed to drive enterprise development in TVET?
Answer: Educational Management is the study and practice of overseeing how the activities of education and educational related are conducted which are geared towards achieving predetermined goals, results and objectives. It offers a holistic view of managing and delivering learning and development across several learning domains such as TVET. Enterprise development is a technical skill that is needed for those who seek to create enterprises, teach how enterprises are created or design frameworks for activities and learn a lot about enterprise creation. An effective educational management system can conduct needed research and deploy results regarding the critical skills needed to drive the growth and development of nations such as Nigeria. Working from the back to the future and ensuring a pragmatic approach to learning can draw the interest of the private sector players. Knowing that learning has an impact on the development of nations and enterprises offers a ray of hope and this can be further enhanced by working together to build vibrant economies.
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