Poor hands on skills coupled by lack of innovation
has been attributed to be among the factors that contributes to the total
failure by some Tanzanian graduates from higher learning institutions to fit
for the jobs in local labour market, it has been informed. As a result of this
failure, the available job opportunities intended for local Tanzanian
professionals are overtaken by other graduates or professionals from outside
the country notably from the neighboring regional East African States.An economist
specializing in labour services with the Association of Tanzania Employers
(ATE) Oscar Mkude said mid this week in Dar es Salaam that, failure by
Tanzanian graduates that emanates from inadequate skills has made some
employers in the country to look for other professionals outside the country
who could fit for the vacant positions advertised by their firms. Mkude said in
an exclusive interview that, most graduates fresh from various universities in
the country do not have the ability to grasp or adapt their hands on skills for
a particular job they apply for compared to other graduates from East African
regional states, notably Kenya and Uganda. He further elaborated that, Tanzanian
graduates are not innovative and creative enough once are integrated in jobs
and more badly, cannot push themselves to work unless there is someone to supervise
them. He said adding that, quite a number of them have bad attitude that drives
their mindset and think about richness
without showing that are able to deliver, a factor that most employers are
annoyed and opt to look for competent professionals from outside the country to
run their businesses. However, he mentioned some areas of profession to which
most Tanzanians are not fit such as in areas of marketing and advertising,
Information Technology, Communication and Hotel management. In the latter
profession he said that, his association is in plans to introduce an
apprenticeship programmes that would enable graduates in this field that seems
to be new in higher learning institutions to work for internship prior to
signing their employment contracts. “Apprenticeship is part of solution and a
pilot project would start in hotel industry so to groom graduates during their first
three months in all important departments in the hotel industry”, he said
adding that, his association would entice the government so as to bridge the
gap as most workers in this sector are mostly foreigners. Commenting over the
matter, some university dons have cited various reasons and solutions to the
existing problem that Tanzanian graduates face in this scenario.
Professor Yunus Mgaya
The Executive
Secretary of Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) Professor Yunus Mgaya
said that, lack of confidence alongside poor communication skills among some
Tanzanian graduates is a great problem. He said most Tanzanian graduates are
not fluently conversant in English language which is commonly used for official
business activities in private companies, the leading employers in the country.
He said in an exclusive interview that, “there is ineffective communication
skills to the use of English language has been evident in almost every
interview a Tanzanian graduate participate to acquire a particular job in either
a local or a foreign company.” Prof. Mgaya who is a former deputy
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) noted that local job
applicants are not even conversant with current affairs in their fields and the
country at large, leave alone being innovative and creative enough an aspect
that makes them left behind. Judging from his experience as a university senior
lecturer he said that, most of the graduates in Tanzania, including those fresh
from schools, are knowledgeable enough about their areas of theoretical study
but lacks confidence resulting in poor service delivery when it comes to
practices. However, he suggested that, there should be an effective mechanism
to put much emphasis on the English language for every course to be pursued in
higher learning institutions so as to equip graduates with the knowledge of
English language which can make them express themselves fluently. On the
professional skills, he said that government should establish a mechanism
whereby graduates would acquire hands on skills rather than relying more on the
theoretical knowledge as they are not professional practitioners, the service
which is not demanded by employers anywhere. “If you employ graduates fresh
from the school must be taken to undergo internal job training and this is a
situation on the ground as universities are not producing artisans but rather
graduates”, Prof. Mgaya said. When asked if university trainers need to undergo
professional training in order to be competent enough in their teaching career services
prior to their employment starting from the level of a Tutorial Assistants (TA)
as the case in high learning institutions, he noted that this is relevant in
certain disciplines but not all need to undergo professional training skills. He
pinpointed some necessary disciplines like lawyers who have to go for school of
law, engineers have to be registered by a National Board of Engineers (ERB) in
the country as well as professional medical practitioners. Other disciplines he
said are not necessary. He noted that, the role of professional bodies should be
engaged in these professional activities so as to get competent lecturers in
future with enough professional skills in a particular discipline at a level of
tutorial assistants so as to supply good knowledge for expected graduates. On
his part, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Academic) of the University of Dar es
Salaam (UDSM) Professor Florens Luoga said that, Tanzania graduates being
identified as incompetent by possible employers might sound an insult, but
unless we admit and embark on rectifying the situation as Tanzania will always
be taken as an ignorant state. He further noted that, “it is not true that Tanzania
graduates are incompetent as such but the situation is aggravated more by discrimination
attitude being practiced by some employers who thinks that Kenyans and Ugandans
are much better than Tanzanians. Elaborating in this, Prof. Luoga noted that,
some employing companies are dominated by ethnicity an attitude mostly
practiced by foreign companies notably from Kenya or Uganda who prefers to
employ their own people. He said the employment market in the country has the
so-called ‘blanket condemnation’ which he described it as the inferior thinking
capacity towards Tanzanian graduates who are alleged not to be productive in
certain professional positions.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Academic) of the University of Dar es
Salaam (UDSM) Professor Florens Luoga
As related with the poor hands on professional
skills alleged to Tanzanian graduates he exonerated from the blame citing
employers’ reluctance for assisting students with field study opportunities. He insisted that graduates are only equipped
with theoretical knowledge while the hands on know how is complemented by employers
during their practical field work. However,
he noted that the notion might be true because not all graduates are alike and
this depends on someone’s understanding to the particular professional levels. It’s
obvious that the problem of lack of employability is now growing from being a
challenge to a threat, especially now that we are talking of the SADC and
COMESA Cooperation. In this technological era, the standards for Tanzanian graduates
should adopt a global perspective, says Susan John a secondary teacher in the
city. She pointed out that the problem starts from the grassroots on how they
prepare pupils and students. The education system should be restructured to
reflect the current employment needs, suggesting that a practical approach
should be emphasized as opposed to theoretical one. She pointed a finger at
primary schools which are responsible for preparing students for secondary and
then to college or university education which train students according to their
potential and aspirations an aspect that they get incompetent graduates. “Unless
the government through the ministries concerned urgently addresses this
situation, Tanzanians will continue to be incompetent and unfit for
employment”, she said. Meanwhile, a media professional has thrown a challenge by
condemning the habit being practiced by most higher learning institutions of
recruiting their best performing students who are good in theory and not in
practical to become tutorial assistants and later lecturers in future. Dr. Hamza
Kondo of the Journalism Department and Media studies at the Open University of
Tanzania suggested that, before their recruitment such candidates should
undergo formal media training immediately on completion of their first degree
programs before they are considered for masters and later become lecturers. Dr.
Kondo who reflects his views on Journalism and Mass communication professional
categories, has worked in the media for over 30 years commended that most fresh
graduate from higher learning institutions lacks practical skills when
recruited into newsroom to practice journalism profession, an aspect that some
editors take extra time to teach them writing news stories. He is of the view
that preliminary newsroom practical training was vital for those who would like
to become tutorial assistants and later lecturers as their professional knowledge
is vital to prospective graduates at higher learning institutions. In this way,
according to him the knowledge acquired from newsroom would enable them to
practice professional teaching career that would also be in a position to build
their talents and consequently become competent in teaching with enough
practical experience they shall have acquired. He says the long standing
problem of having incompetent graduates must have been originated from their
tutors or lecturers who fail to groom them properly to become qualified enough.
In order to rectify the situation, he is appealing to the body of higher learning
institutions and the government to look at the modalities and critically change
the trend otherwise such institutions will continue to produce graduates of
lower qualities. In another move, insufficient staffing in colleges and
universities in the country has been mentioned as one among factors leading the
universities to produce incompetent graduates who fail to compete in the labour
market. Speaking during the just ended Parliamentary debate two weeks ago when
tabling the Social Services Committee annual report for 2014/15, veteran UDSM
don Prof Kulikoyela Kahigi (Biharamulo-CHADEMA) said that universities should
have a fully fledged ministry to monitor and regulate standards they follow. “Instead
of universities being under the Ministry of Education it is much more helpful
to have their own ministry,” he said adding that, problems existing in some
colleges and universities in the country result from lacking lecturers, forcing
university students not to be in study for long periods.
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