Technical Training creates employment [1]
Saturday, January 27, 2007 - 12:30. Updated on Thursday, February 5, 2015 - 21:24.
Editor,
I've just seen the senior examination results for Tonga - the pass rate was less than 50%, and the Prime Minister of Tonga in a press conference yesterday (Jan 25th) concedes that there is rising unemployment in Tonga and the solution is to give the children technical training. At last, someone recognizes the need for vocational and technical education training in Tonga! Every child is not academically inclined - and it is futile to insist that the child repeats several years just to pass an exam to progress to the next level and repeat again and so on. Instead the education system should provide an alternative for those not academically inclined. The education curriculum should stream them off when they reach Form 5 - the academic stream who will sit exams, and the TVET (Technical and Vocational Education Training) stream for schools. Alternatively, let there be TVET institutions (such as the TMPI) that can take the children whose gifts are not in the academic arena.
Over the years, students who "do not make it" are labelled as failures / or worse and this does not add to the morale or psyche of a person - this contributes to a depressed and anti-social unemployed body of youth. If Tonga invests in TVET institutions, students who "do not make it" have a chance of contributing to the economy and to the country positively with the skills they acquire in a year or two after their training. Some food for thought.
Malo 'aupito
Tupou Taiamoni Finau