Govt shrugs off responsibility of job creation
Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Anna Mokgethi says youth employment is not the sole responsibility of her Ministry but instead needs a multi- sectorial approach.
She said the RESET Agenda as championed by President Mokgweetsi Masisi is rallying all sectors of the economy to leave no one behind. Over the years the government has come up with targeted interventions to address the economic plight of the youth cohort, which contributes the majority, approximately 60 percent of the population.
Mokgethi who is also Member of Parliament for Gaborone Bonnington North indicated that government does not necessarily have to incentivise companies to participate and contribute to national development. She told Parliament this week that this is simply because the benefits accrued from an apprenticeship system are symbiotic, whereby both the employer and the employee benefit from the programme. Mokgethi explained that as Government institutions elsewhere are continuing to empower young people through initiatives such as entrepreneurship, her Ministry provides programmes that help young people to promote workplace skills and enhance chances of employability. “Internship programme is effective in that it is an enabler of a smooth transition from school to work. It helps the interns to gain skills that can be useful to them when they later join the work place. It also helps to teach them the culture and ethics of the work place. “Structured internship and apprenticeship training equip learners with practical skills and expose them to the world of work through attachments, experiential learning, work integrated learning. “The Internship programme provides the youth with the opportunity to gain work exposure and experience, build occupational competences, deepen technical skills that were imparted during education and improve graduates’ readiness to work,” Mokgethi said in Parliament this week.
The Minister who was answering a question in Parliament stated that Apprenticeships are effective means of bridging school and the “World of Work” for young people by making it possible for them to acquire relevant work experience along with technical and professional training.
The contribution of apprenticeship to jobs and skills has long been appreciated by countries eager to promote growth and ease the transition from full- time education to work for young people, she said. “Currently, however, places offered by employers are not sufficient to meet the huge demand from young people or to have much impact on youth unemployment in developing countries in addressing skills development”. However, countries with strong apprenticeship training systems like Germany and Switzerland, Australia, Austria, France and Turkey have lower youth unemployment rate, ranging between three to six percent because of the support from workplaces on the uptake of skills development in the form of apprenticeship. According to Mokgethi, an apprenticeship system would complement both the educational and internship programme in Botswana in that Apprenticeship training is a combination of “on- the- job training” and “school- based education”. Apprenticeship programmes may be understood as forms of vocational education and training that combines and alternates periods of theoretical classroom learning and practical training at a workplace, she added. “Combination of progression of training with earnings, gives access to social protection and respect for labour services rendered. Apprentices see themselves as part of the organisation in its growth and contribute to the positive success of the organisation in achieving its production targets. “Combining classroom and workplace training enables employers to match training to Skills’ needs, thus closing the gap on skills mismatch,” Mokgethi argued. She was responding to a question from MP for Kanye North Thapelo Letsholo who wanted the Minister to appraise Parliament on youth unemployment in Botswana and Government efforts towards reducing it.