Effects of accessibility and adequacy of technical vocational education and training equipment on acquisition of employable skills in Uganda. A case of Uganda Technical College - Elgon

Abstract

The Government of Uganda has continued to establish and equip public Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institutions in the country. However, despite the initiatives, learners have continued to join the industry claimed to have inadequate employable skills. This pauses a question whether the equipment utilized are adequate, accessed by learners to acquire employable skills. This paper therefore examined the access and adequacy of TVET equipment in Technical Colleges. A descriptive survey design utilizing quantitative and qualitative approach of research was conducted, a sample size of 100 learners and 5 instructors were selected. A simple random sampling technique to choose learners responded the questionnaires and purposive selection of instructors for focus group discussions. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to run descriptive analyses, ordinal regressions and frequency distribution. Findings on adequacy show that 77% of the learners are availed equipment not relevant to their programme and spend little time practicing on the equipment. In conclusion, TVET equipment were inadequate with limited time spent on practicum, and recommended that Government institutions should undergo into memorandum of understanding with the industry to enable learners adequately access practical experience on modern equipment and relevant to their training.