Why are universities not preparing the youth for employment? | From Master's degree to unemployment

this week on the 77% street debate we cannot wait for that change to happen until the change will happen hundred years to come we have a problem with work ethics what is applied by the schools is not what is demanded by the employers what are you taught in schools what we see in schools is exactly dear friend from what to a friend in a society so when you go out of there you find denial [Music] in the year 2016 the then Deputy Director for employment Josef Ganga made an admission that left many people shocked he said that 80% of the Tanzanian workforce is unemployed and we're curious is it because of the quality of education or just the way the marketplace is set up well we're here at the University of Jerusalem to try and get to the bottom of that I'd like to hear from some of the university students who are at the back do you think that what you're being taught in your classrooms is preparing you for the fourth Industrial Revolution that we've heard a future of digitization can I please hear from some people here most of us most of Education students we told only to finish our colleges and to find our jobs and not to be as to tend for ourselves so it correct me if I'm wrong but you're saying that people are getting degrees and master programs just as a check to check because I know I'm going to get a job after this so where's the passion where does the passion come in there is no pressure there is no passion for education what are you talking schools what we see in schools is exactly dear friend from what you find in a society so when you when you go out of there you find denier Hammadi let's come back to you and I also want to pose the question of how this education system in Tanzania compares to global ones I know for example that she went to university right here and then proceeded after six months to New York so how does that work when you are there the first thing you're taught is how to teach yourself because I remember I had first assignment and I had to present in front of the class and do - they'll do - one topic that we didn't learn I told that I told my my instructor that oh you know we haven't learned this and then what I met you know in in schools you only taught about 20% the rest you need to teach yourself because in reality you're not gonna have your professor with you I'm like so that was actually like something that hit my head and opened up my eyes and since then I have been learning everything by myself like to hear from this gentleman at the back who wants to contribute let me go deep end today a root cause of the problem what is applied by the schools is not what is demanded by the employers and you know what is the really cause of it the real cause is curriculum we have had five curriculum reforms in Tanzania and all these reforms have been focusing on superficial things but if they really issue of content and cognitive demand in the curriculum has never been addressed in all five reforms what does it mean it means the written document the written curriculum has a huge misalignment or mismatch with actually what is outside the classroom what the employers need a person the qualification of the person is not taught in the classroom thank you so much we'll come to the solutions in just a short while Noelle I know you've been trying to talk to me for a while is this the experience that you're having the problem is leadership we have they don't know where they will is that yes using the Babar curriculum to teach our youth would they are playing with the mind they are playing with the future I mean there are financial futures you can imagine our education system is producing the shameful students the shameful grab it with the donor even to to express themself or how to to face the real challenge of this world regardless of language so the first thing we are supposed to do is the leaders to know where are we supposed to be to know that the national target and to set to set their education curriculum educational system to be related with our national targets international goal there's one more person thank you the system of education it is but we have to know that your population always keep on growing but the system of education is still Aditi's so we have a number of we have a number of students but we have a lot of students but in are the same so how do you dispute this it was the puzzle that comes the issue of unemployment so we've just heard something that has been added into the discussion first of all we heard that the curriculum is mismatched to the skills that are required in the market language of instruction is obviously a problem you also talked about the curriculum being outdated but now we're hearing that the classrooms are going to get inevitably bigger as the population grows how does that affect quality of delivery we have few lecturers and so many students remember some of the lecturers had to mark more than 2,000 papers and some of them they really have to work day and night to ensure the students are learning because there is the difference between attending classes and they really learning the only challenge we are facing right now is when these students are graduating and you see them on the street they are looking for job two or three years after their graduation all right I want to speak to somebody who is currently looking for a job and has a degree here you are so all of these things are they sounding relevant to you do you think that your skills are mismatched for the work environment your curriculum was bogus is this true well it's it's not exactly to cause the very big thing like the very big problem like I see now is the system you find maybe I took a degree in Bachelor degree in political science and public administration but I go back to the market the employment system there are no jobs for political science and public administration so I'll just take other jobs that will fix me or help me to to have any survived or if in case I don't be able to get it I'll come a before then intervene terpene yashi another problem that I've seen it I cannot be an interpreter ship if I've not gotten an intrapreneur skills all like learnings or studies the government takes a lot of students to come to the universities and there a lot of university like the time I finish my university a gratuity last year we got ready like five thousand but you find in my class like ten or twenty are the ones were employed others were at home we just will never get something like a volunteering thing you go for it you can't maybe their eyes conference you go for it you just you want to survive okay so if I'm listening to this conversation for as an outsider I would come to Tanzania and say well there's no point of having a degree so I want to know from you Lillian how easy it is or how difficult it is to get a job without actual papers it's not easy um so I'm the the fact of the matter is we still have employers that will be looking for somebody who has finished either a certificate or you have a sort of a certificate diploma or a degree at the end of the day but what's much more important is the fact of what are you doing with that knowledge base that you have how are you churning that to actually be employable there is a mismatch with regard to the labor market information so how quick you we know what is needed in the labor market so that the training institutions actually design degree courses or if it's short certificates that you actually deliver students that can work within that space so there is different layers to this whole issue but you know if I wanted to be a civil engineer in this country do I have the resources okay let's say from some people we haven't heard from when it comes to practical training engineers and doctors are lucky because they get to go to the field and and do something and see actually what they're studying and that is also in their classrooms that is in an engineering class a teacher doesn't come with notes and then teaches the students but what happens mostly is you don't actually go to practice what you have studied in school so I you might do let's say public relations advertising you go then then you put as a customer care so when you s two months without actually gaining something that you went there for and that is recurrent so you do it for the first change beautiful second D and then when you finish you actually come to realize that what you have gained and what you did in a practical training is actually not what the employer wants from this end let me speak to some people I haven't spoken to all come back to you normal well thank you actually I'm an electro engineering student at this university so I want to take this the whole thing into a perspective of technology the country right now is under pres of Technology because we're in the Second Industrial Revolution which is more okay for this country for this country we are more the second because we are in the electricity information and mechanical information but the whole word is in the fourth which is basically about the International Internet of Things about the artificial intelligence about robotics you see now we are lacking that consistency with the external world because of our system right now okay so can you give me some practical examples that you've experienced in your learning which you feel already give you a step back or make you disadvantaged okay I explained this once in class you know we had to learn to learn about about about electronics okay and and the electronics that we were taught is something that you don't see practically you see your tortoise in class and it's very theoretical but when you go to the external field you don't see nothing like that you know you just mean something which is so different you see so that is a shock that was a shock for me because I learned something like electronics in class but I went to the field and it was nothing like that you know there was a challenge and we we really need something like a practical methodology for this country for the hireling institutions to just cope with the external external world and the external pressure of the fourth Industrial Revolution alright and what does this pressure do because now we're talking about people who've worked so hard to get degrees and then they realize maybe they are not so relevant what does that mean for the future Leandra Wow I think right now we are talking of we won't be able to utilize our natural resources for sure like we you take the skills that we have right now and you see us in the near future we cannot do that we cannot do that unless something changes if the policies are not changed it means like something has to be changed policies are not change we are going to be on the same level we're on the Second Industrial Revolution which is very sad and the world is moving fast and we need to catch up guys are coming this side and then we need we need their skills you know we need their skills so we'll keep on bringing more people to actually utilize the skills in Tanzania because we don't have resource for people to be used as employees in the industry and I think maybe somebody else yeah for me I think you asked about the question of the future of All Nations for me the future is very wise because we are not yet knowing how to stop this gamble I said our educational system is like playing the gamble they game of winnin loser I think we have to restructure our educational system sadati to provide a programs which will help our kids to explore the railways and experience so that they can help them save they can help this sad they can oppose about the nation keeping on perpetuating the system I think we are having no we are going that is very very bleak are you going to tell me something sad what's the saddest thing that we have this fear of unknown you're studying it you in India to know that when I go out there outfit that the rejection well so you are now in university not knowing if this education is going to be me if it will help me I don't know and when I look at the outside and when I look at the relevant of the people who graduated before me when I look at them I just have this fear of unknown what am I to do what am I going to do they're out there it's the education system was supposed to help me right you're supposed to to give me diversity of direction I will go a mulch up option right I will start with this one if this fellow goes this one is this fellow goes decent but it has gave me it has given me only one choice and that choice deep inside my mind I know that this choice is going not it is not going to work it has killed my career city it has killed my creativity which is no it is not innovated anything inside me just killed everything okay so how do you stay motivated in the classroom if you are not sure that this will amount to something so what should be done is that we cannot hide in this umbrella of curriculum you cannot hide it in this envelope that the system does not work the allotted education quality is still low so if they are they use oh is a young person what are you to do for yourself what's a that's creativity you have inside you because of course the knowledge you get can be so can be cake it cannot be stolen you still have it's right is that creativity that you're born with cannot be stolen you still have it so you have to search it right inside you what do I have inside what that crazy with what can I do for myself is that the system does not help me if the environments stopped me if the situation stopped me what do I have to do to survive because we have to survive all right let's hear from Leandra and then I'd like to hear from you please yeah apart from that I think we need to go back this country I mean I'm a person I employ other people as well apart from having another job they work ethics I see people who come they work ethics we have a problem with work ethics I mean even like two two days ago a friend of mine was in hospital and a doctor was attending her and she was listening to music you know listening to music while you're supposed to you know we have a very poor work ethics in Tanzania do you think that comes from right from education being forced to do something you're not really interested in it comes as the foundation from family it starts from family just know that at the place where a kid is going to a job they have been they have been molded by a family they have been molded by primary school secondary school and the society as well so we have this whole package which I mean like it's difficult mode at this time yeah so the work ethics bad attitude very really bad and people complaining a lot but then people need to be self-motivated when you go back to history back then when our mothers and fathers were studying they had a thing called education for self-reliance if I'm not mistaken and in their schools you'd find only one kid has passed and all other kids have do not pass but how did they survive we look at us we have all studied my mom got a diploma my dad had a PhD but I can see how much she struggled to get me to school she's the one who paid my school fees first by the way so I'm you you get back to that you like how did they survive something is wrong somewhere we need to intro thing these are the skills that remedy was talking about earlier I'd like to hear from her please because she hasn't spoken okay thank you first you know something all of what I've been discussing here implies that we need to change there must be a change in our education systems education syllabuses but we cannot wait for that change to happen until the change will happen hundred years to come will you just stay either and die with no work no a good education or know what so I think it's high time for students in our universities in our colleges in a secure school to imp to equip themselves with employment employability skills they need they need to know what they what the employer needs and how are they going to get the through different workshops trainings and seminars I have to say this entire conversation is making me a bit sad because we're hearing over and over again people saying don't depend on the degree forget about having a job create the space for yourself speak to us you know I was listening a lot of complaint about the education system and other issues but the way see because I'm coming from the Highland institutions you know the problem is not to the curriculum the problem is not the education system the problem is not exactly the government system whatever the problem is the mindset you know when I talk about education we have two types of education reform education and in for medication so actually what we discussed me and most we discussed about the reform education which actually is just taking up after someone having the in for medication that's what I'm saying about the issue or mindset but I mean it's very difficult to be in a positive mindset and say I'm going to make it no matter what if you don't have the foundation for it it's very difficult to convince a future employer that I'm going to be able to do a good job if you can't express yourself exactly that's what I'm saying about the info education you talk about the foundation the foundation normally starts from the info education and not from the former education so if you have a clear mind set the attitude flow moorefamily that education is not the or the only way to someone after to our living you know talk about employment we are talk about the living how someone can live isn't it and you will find a lot of God with the thing about being employed talk about the white collar jobs we have forgotten a very big question of the employment which is informal sector okay this informal sector can see from the the private sector and from the agriculture sector which actually it is still aversion to almost 80% okay so another thing someone said about the issue of curriculum you know the system of validating the curriculum is happening in each of the five years so in that validation of the curriculum see depending the time the change of Science and Technology you'll find the employer today they need someone maybe it's a certain skills okay maybe this is sell exert over innovation said is that from the vision which came in in the two years before coming to the five years which actually said right time for change the curriculum you can see and someone is brimming about the curriculum someone is bringing up education I'm sorry language no it does not work languages not work you may be speaking the Chinese vernacular language but if you do work okay let me hear from some other people I haven't heard from please come here speaking of mindset so most of the time because you don't have a job so what do you do next you go to maybe training skills that you have to you know to undertake then most of the time you find somebody saying maybe I'm I can't write a CV I can be a cover letter then okay there's this training come they don't show up you see now do you do there and like or maybe have connection hakama connection takes you to the interview but are you gonna stand out to win that interview so it's almost mindset so you really think that students should take matters into their own hands and close the deficit okay let me hear from some more people here okay thank you my opinion is that the solution is that we have to be prepared for of everything that is coming to us as we are studying from primary school secondary school there must be when you finish about secondary school preparing ourself for going to university there must be the preparation that there must be people who prepare students for their for the future in for their name in like career guidance counselor yes the people must know what they are going to study what are they studying for what type of job they need to do next so in Tanzania most of people we are not aware of what we want to do maybe I'm finishing my secondary school education I want to go for university so what am I going to in studying at University maybe I'm depending on my siblings oh I've already going to university to advise me on what I'm going to study or what am I going to to practice they're picking degree choices which have less to do with the employability but more to do with passion all right anyone else who wants to speak why I haven't spoken to yet and then we'll come back we'll circle back I think the problem is Oh going to the solutions is students or graduates you better have options make your options clear have options intrapreneurship is not an option to - - for everyone it's not for everyone in Turpan a ship is the sector that depends on itself like as it is in the employment sector you need skills you need a set of various skills to do it in a intrapreneurship in the private sector or in the employment sector you need skills as you failed in the employment sector you will fail also if you do not have skills in the interpreter ship but also another option is we need a cultural reform cultural chance of transformation do we believe in technology why are we in the Second Industrial Revolution know has been raising his head for a while and I'd like to come to the gentleman at the back they are talking about the issue of diversity maybe letting me ask you both why here they raised in a school here in Tanzania maybe is emphasizing the keys to excel in physical intelligence there is a miscreant underneath they are asserting the student to excel in social intelligence emotional teachers can find out that our education system is forcing our kids only to pass a written examination that forget it so I'd like to hear from you as the people who've been hearing this debate and listening to it with me what is the way forward for the Tanzanian education system Leandra actually if we continue with the system we will be still reproducing number of unemployed people and we have to know that because we are fighting in the forest we should not choose weapons we should take all this angle this discussant of mentioned curriculum is of us to be changing when you speaking about curriculum we have to know that it does government you know that the theory we have been taught in class silly led to the practice and if it that the case also we have we have to include a course we call an interpreter interprets it as a composite cause in each ear as we do in other causes so if a student finish a year of study has to go into practice and light even a projector and show how or where it's the project has been done so that when he after he or she has graduated will be assured of soft skills because we are mostly provided with hard skills but soft case is it's just a case ok Lily and I'm interested to hear from you I need youth to be take charge of their own all the things that we're talking about the mindset you have you you know you're running an employability workshop you have spots for 60 only 30 apply and then only 20 actually stay through the whole thing so that's one third so at the end of the day we have people who have graduated over two years and I sit down on this person is like how many applications have you sent out there in two years right actually was one year um it's like three applications I'm like three applications and you have your parents you I mean like walk the ground and they are I'm not saying that they're not walking the ground I'm just saying that we need to adopt a different mindset in and all has been speaking about really starting to do the volunteering it's true employers will be looking at the end of the day you have one position and I have more than 200 applications to go through for that one position what starts to differentiate you you volunteered were you at your student government body did you do so those are the things now are starting to pooch okay I'll put this person in this bucket and I'm this person has a different mindset they have teamwork so those are the things that starts differentiate you so at the end of the day we can talk about all the challenges that are facing us and are insurmountable but we have to do something about it alright well we've had a very intense conversation here in Jerusalem and the answer has been resounding from all of these young people that the first thing that needs to happen to improve the quality of education is for the students themselves to figure out why they even want this education my name is Edith Kimani thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: DW The 77 Percent

Views: 20,430

Keywords: DW, DW Africa, Africa, street debate, edith kimani, DW africa 77, Deutsche Welle, Tanzania, Dar es salaam, University of Dar es salaam, Universities, higher education, education, unemployment, jobs, colleges

Id: kw3XXeVAp3w

Length: 25min 43sec (1543 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 13 2020