Abstract
As a graduate teacher, I was involved in teaching and instructing young men and women with vocational education skills. I was teaching for 7 years at Don Bosco Vocational training center in Wau, Southern Sudan. I taught 5 years at DBVTC and 2 years at Upper Secondary School. My work as a teacher was engulfed in teaching workshop calculation, technical drawing, Religion and English at DBVTC. At Upper Secondary School I was involved in teaching Mathematics, English and Religion.
Sudan as a whole and in particular Southern Sudan now is facing the educational campaign by UNICEF under the title “Let all the children/youth go to school” and to me as a teacher who have experience of what technical and vocational education can give, I will rather suggest and advocate for general education for all, as well vocational education for all. The development of the skills labor is fading from Southern Sudan. The government/NGOs should back-up the existing vocational training centers and others to improve the vocational and technical education i.e. if we need to create a qualitative jump in training the people of Sudan more especially the people of Southern Sudan with vocational knowledge and skills.
In order to advocate and publish awareness to people of good will about the importance of technical and vocational education, I felt the need of taking a research to look critically into the vocational practices at DBVTC and the local industries around Wau Town. My concern in this research is to emphasis on the vocational education and training (Skill Development), especially for the less educated, poor and out of school youth (drops out), which has been highlighted by some researchers, NGOs and in various forums both in Europe and Africa.
Large percentage of the population in Sudan, particularly South Sudan is living below poverty line. One of my field works was the researched on the causes of lower percentage of skilled persons in the workforce. For instance in Wau, Western Bahr El-Ghazal State, the skill development at present is taking place mostly in the informal way, i.e. persons acquire skills at the work-place when they help their parents, relatives and employers etc. Such persons do not have a formal certificate and thus earn lower wages and are exploited by employers. They have come through informal system due to socio-economic circumstances of the family and the compulsions of earning a livelihood rather than attending a formal course at the vocational training centers. While their productivity is seen as low due to their informal training, their contribution on the other hand is ignored and it is so rich in nature. With this in mind, the State (South Sudan Government) and other NGOs/Donors should create a system of certification which not only recognizes their skills attained by informal training but also provides education and training in a mode that suits their economic compulsions that can benefit the workforce of the State, to earn a decent living (reduce poverty) and bring down the high level of un employability. It can also contribute to the vocational training centers existing in South Sudan and even the national economy by better productivity of this workforce and market labor to the neighboring countries.
Paul Tartisio Kenyi - September 2009
