Our Schools must prepare our Students for the World of Work

Young people in schools today will be joining the work force tomorrow. The question therefore is whether Nigerian schools are preparing students for the workplace or just preparing them to memorize and regurgitate during examinations. Nigerian students need to move away from rote learning and memorization to understanding what is being taught with the objective of using it creatively to solve problems and come up with creative solutions and products in the 21^st century work place. Schools should teach technical, innovation, creative and generic skills needed in the 21^st century workplace.  Some of the remarkable innovations coming out of America through  Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Marc Zuckerberg have not come through regurgitation of what is memorized but taking what they have been taught in class  to create what does not exist through innovation, we are looking for the Steve Jobs and Marcs Zuckerbergs of Nigeria but we need to create the conducive environment that will make it happen . President Obama during his remarks to the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce commented as follows

“I’m calling on our nation……to develop standards and assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity”

“We are living in a world where what you earn is a function of what you can learn” Bill Clinton Former America President

This famous quote by Bill Clinton summaries in a nut shell what the participants at NESG Technical & Vocational Education Design Work shop agreed at the recently concluded NESG Summit.

 It was obvious to all participants at the summit that  if Nigeria is to  realize its vision of becoming one of the twenty largest economies in the world by 2020 , it will need to transform its youthful population into highly skilled and competent citizens capable of competing globally.  Furthermore a major part of the responsibility for preparing such a workforce rests on its education sector’s ability in all six spheres  to provide education that will  guarantee employment to the teeming population  of youth .

As the job market and economy changes, experts on education and the economy are increasingly worried by the growing gap they see between the skills Nigerian graduates have and the skills, knowledge and habits that employers are seeking. Over 60% of graduates are unemployable as they don’t have the required knowledge or foundation to hold down a job. Employers are asking that employees  have updated vocational, technological, innovative, creative  skills, Communication and literacy, presentation skills, entrepreneurial analytical, problem solving ICT skills ,Interpersonal skills and ability to learn, Commercial and Business Environment awareness . In a recently conducted educational and employability survey done by Phillips Consulting  it was reported that the most sought after skills by employers was computer skills, subject/discipline knowledge, 76%-98% ranked these skills as very important , other skills that employers wanted were listed as teamwork and interpersonal skills, effective verbal communication, ability to think critically and analytically as very important kills needed in the workplace .

Furthermore the  Global economy has changed from an industrialized economy to a Knowledge economy resulting in demand for a different skill set. A knowledge economy requires Nigeria’s educational institutions  to develop workers –knowledge workers and knowledge technologists - who are flexible and analytical and who can be the driving force for innovation and growth.  Unfortunately our Educational Institutions are  not producing the type and quality of skilled workers that employers want, that can support our economy in the 21st century  due to the  massive disconnect between the needs of the private sector and the curriculum delivered by educational institutions,  our educational institutions continue to  deliver curriculum that is irrelevant to the 21^st century workplace thereby rendering thousands of  students unemployable. In addition to this , less than 1% of secondary education is oriented towards technical and vocational skills  in our schools . Women’s participation in scientific and technical occupations is as low as 10%, over 60% of fresh Nigerian graduates are  classified as unskilled and this is in spite of the  serious shortage of skilled workers and technicians in oil, construction , Industrial and services sectors. In the oil sector Indigenous Nigerian companies are unable to meet  up with the 60% local content stipulated by government in oil sector as  drilling off shore skills  needed is  absent in Nigeria.

Honourable Minister Finance and coordinating minister of economy Mrs Ngozi Okonjo Iweala had commented in an interview that the pace of growth is good but the quality of growth matters , manufacturers need to create 2 million jobs in 2014

The fact is there are jobs in Nigeria in critical growth areas that need technical and vocational skills but our students are not trained in the skills needed in these sectors. Lack of adequate attention paid to technical and vocational education in our educational institutions has  resulted in rising youth unemployment poverty in Nigeria. A case in point was reported in an interview with  Alhaji Aliko Dangote  when he  said that a total of 8000 technicians were needed in the $9 billion refinery and petrochemical investment of which he will be recruiting 300 every year . Recently his firm interviewed 550 secondary school leavers out if which 200 was short listed and only 50 eventually engaged. He said one of the major challenges to industrial development is not really funding, but rather the absence of highly trained and experienced human resources to drive growth .  General Electric has also made an investment commitment of $1 billion in Calabar for planned manufacturing and assembly plant expected to create 2,300 jobs . The Company intends to set up a training institute on site to build employee capacity and capability .

MCKINsey in a survey of over 2,800 employers all over the world revealed that 4 out of 10 employers cannot find employees to fill entry level positions in their firms and this had limited their businesses . Most analysts believe that the major issue in the 21^st century labour market is the skills gap challenge, with the unemployment  problem soaring every day.One way of closing the skills gap is certainly creating an educational system that provides skills required by employers, in a country like Nigeria where youth unemployment is estimated to be above 50% , the challenge of closing the skills gap is urgent and must be done immediately to arrest the soaring unemployment and crime rate.  To close the skills gap , education institutions and employers must come together and collaborate to ensure skills requirements are communicated to the educational institutions and the institutions should equip their graduates with required skills.

Such a collaboration was made possible at the recently conclude NESG summit on education where experts  were pooled from Government agencies , private sector and educational institutions .The task to resolve some of these issues was given to the participants of the   NESG Design workshop Group on Technical and Vocational education and they set the following as objectives in the review of  TVET in Nigeria

·        To proffer solutions to ensure the development of Nigeria’s workforce in order to  advance Nigeria’s economic growth and global competitiveness through the provision of accessible and relevant high quality technical and vocational education

·        To deliberate on how the current TVE System can be transformed and adapted to meet the dynamic challenges of the workplace and the 21^st Century

·        Make recommendations as to Government Policies needed to ensure the success of the system.

Some of the key questions that were asked in order to proffer solutions were as follows;

1.     What are the key challenges involved in developing Nigeria's workforce that will fulfil the needs of businesses, organisations, industry sectors  in Nigeria?

2.     How can we start to build practical solutions that result in truly effective education for employment?

3.     What Interventions and Reforms must be put in place to address some of these issues

At the close of the workshop, it was the general consensus  that Nigerian institutions must prepare future ready students, they must be responsive by providing them with education that is relevant for employment in the private sector. Private Sector must also play its part in ensuring it collaborates with tertiary institutions and other education institutions to review the curriculum and ensure it is relevant to its present needs. Employers will also work with institutions to provide internships, apprenticeship and job shadowing so that the practical skills are learnt by students before they graduate.

A committee was immediately set up made up of Industry experts, NBTE the supervising Government Parastataals, schools, state government TVET board members, technical colleges, tertiary institutions and  consultants to ensure the conversation continues and to drive post summit initiatives which will see to the implementation of the many recommendations proffered at the NESG summit. There is an urgent need for these parties to  collaborate with the objective of  producing industry responsive entrepreneurial and student centered education that will ensure that Nigerian students are not only university ready but also career and workplace ready.