NAME: VERONICA KANDEWO

REG NUMBER: P1952042C

COURSE: EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

CODE: BSDS 108

Question: The advent of vocational education training ushered in a different approach to
education in Zimbabwe. Giving practical examples, account for the successes and failures
of this form of education in the context of development
Zimbabwean authors have made citations from various schools of thought on the importance of
Vocational Training Centers. This essay gives a detailed account of the importance of Vocational
training centers in Zimbabwe

Catts et al (2011) define a vocational training center as a higher level learning institution that
specialises in providing students with the vocational education and technical skills they need in order
to perform the tasks of a particular job. Lettmayr (2013) adds that the goal of vocational training
centers is to impart job specific training and education to students who are typically bound for blue-
collar jobs on the workforce as opposed to academic education. According to Macleam (2011), a
vocational training center is a kind of up school offering instruction on one or more skilled or semi-
skilled trades or occupation. In his definition, Specht (2008) says that a vocational training center is a
training center that imparts education and knowledge to students only in the type of trade a person
wants to pursue, foregoing traditional academics.

These institutions equip students with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills for them to be
employable in the job market (UNESCO, 2001). Vocational training centers are also known as trade
schools, career schools or vocational colleges (Catts et al, 2011). They offer a range of courses
ranging from short career focused programs to long-term focused courses that quickly prepare
graduates for the workforce and self-reliance (Specht, 2008). They provide practical training with
few unrelated academic course requirements. Vocational training centers generally focus on
programs in career fields that can focus on a single field like automotive trades, welding, plumbing,
carpentry, blacksmithing, motorcycle and automotive repair and others (Mupinga et al, 2005).
Education offered in vocational training centers allows students and adults to focus on the skills to
enter a particular industry with the option of not taking unrelated general education courses
(UNESCO, 2001). In line with the above, OECD (2012) adds that vocational training prepares students
to become future entrepreneurs. Thus, vocational training centers provide technology training or
retraining for workers in current occupations and future occupations in an entrepreneurial nature
(Specht, 2008).

Vocational training centers soon after independence were introduced to train young people who had
returned from the war to start their businesses (Chikoore and Museva, 2014). The rationale was to
give second chance education to less advantaged youth in society who had not achieved ‘O’ level
threshold of five subjects to garner employment or further their education. The Zimbabwean
government embarked on vocational training initiatives with a Pan-Africanist Socialist orientation
and the vocationalisation of the education sector became a top priority. Thus, the government
established many vocational training centers for the purpose of improving the productivity of
workers at various levels within organisations. The phasing out of the F (2) system was replaced by
the introduction of the philosophy of Education With Production (EWP) that was carried over from
practices that had been experimented upon in the camps during the liberation struggle (Nherera,
1999). The education system had borrowed heavily from Nyerere’s philosophy of “Education for Self
Reliance” (1967). This philosophy according to Mupinga et al (2005) saw the establishment of
Zimbabwe Foundation of Education with Production (ZIMFEP) centres like Mupfure vocational
center, Magamba vocational center, Driefontain vocational Centre, Murombedzi training center and
others. These vocational training centres combined theory and practice in their curricula. The
essence of these centers was to produce fearless and innovative youths who are active in practical
entrepreneurship and development hence contributing to socio-economic development of the
country (Zengeya, 2007). According to Chinyamunzore (1995), vocational training centers in
Zimbabwe sprouted in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a response to Economic Structural
Adjustment Program (ESAP). He noted that vocational training centers were called to empower
youth through skills training in private and public vocational centres so that they can take part in the
development of Zimbabwe (Nherera, 1999). In the same vein, the adoption of vocational training in
vocational training centres was for employment creation (Nziramasanga, 1999). A milestone has
been made in vocational training centres with most of them producing graduates with skills enabling
them to start their cooperatives and other small businesses with the support of the government.

However, vocational training centres have been facing a lot of challenges since then among them
are; obsolete training equipment, absence of industrial synergies, curricula and industrial
expectations variances and others (UNESCO, 2010). In his speech in the Herald (2015) at Mupfure
graduation ceremony, Doctor Godfrey Gandawa the deputy minister of higher and tertiary education
urged graduates to seriously consider establishing their own enterprises as opposed to seeking
formal employment. He said that it is through entrepreneurial skills that graduates can be able to
sustain themselves and their families thus creating jobs for others and contributing to the
development of local communities, something that was also echoed by Doctor Gerald Munyoro, the
Mupfure College`s Advisory Board Chair on Zimbabwean Television news (2015).

Vocational training centres are called to embrace entrepreneurial culture so that students will
understand the concept and be able to create more businesses. This goes well with Doctor Godfrey
Gandawa in the Herald (2015) who says that the majority of graduates from vocational training
centres face difficulties in starting their businesses after graduating since they lack requisite
industrial skills. In short, the existence of entrepreneurial culture in Zimbabwe hence

Vocational training centers helps students acquire entrepreneurial skills for self-reliance through job
creation. Observations by Catts et al (2011) show that most vocational training centers in America
have embraced entrepreneurial culture in order to foster entrepreneurial skills among students and
to enhance their livelihoods. Wong (2014) echoes the same sentiments when he says that the
existence of entrepreneurial culture in vocational training centers enables graduates to possess
entrepreneurial skills that are employed for economic development. Hence, business organizations
and vocational training centers should consider embracing entrepreneurial culture for them to
survive in the global competitive environment.
Vocational training centers helps students to be self-reliant after acquiring the skills . Catts et al
(2011) note that vocational training centers are not only a center for local economic development
but they also respond to the needs of the citizenry as they form the bedrock for essential innovative
skills for self-sustenance. In line with that, Boateng (2012) says that vocational training centers are
considered as an engine that drives the economy since they produce graduates who are able to
create jobs and become self reliant. Therefore, vocational training centers are significant since they
equip graduates with requisite practical skills for self-reliance.

In Zimbabwe and like in any other nations, the state assists vocational training centres in various
ways, for instance, creating an enabling environment for economic growth and employment
generation, laying the foundation for an overall national vocational training policy and regulating
vocational centres` operations (UNESCO, 2010). The government also complement initiatives by
vocational training centers and encourage creation of advisory bodies (committees) to offer advice
on various issues (Chinyamunzore, 1995). The government roles can extent to mobilising resources
and ensuring quality standards of competency among vocational training providers and graduates. It
can also seek greater private sector involvement. Thus, there is great need for vocational training
centers to work hand in gloves with the government in order to realise their mandate (Nherera,
1999). Nevertheless, in Zimbabwe, efforts by the state to improve vocational centers operations
have not yielded the much- needed results and so remain a pipe dream (Zvobgo, 1994). Similarly,
the government should have confidence that vocational training centers are able to offer effective
vocational training so that graduates can become self-reliant through utilization of the skills learnt
during training. Given the role played by the state in promoting vocational training in vocational
training centers, it is therefore interesting to investigate on the significance of entrepreneurial
culture in vocational training centers.

To conclude one can safely say that entrepreneurial culture is one of the fruits of vocational training
centers which will lead to job creation and new business start ups. This will enable graduates from
vocational training centers to become innovative and creative to start their own businesses, become
self-reliant and enhance their living standards thus vocational training centers are important in
addressing pertinent challenges affecting new graduates. Although there challenges as highlighted in
the essay; positives outweigh the challenges hence their importance.
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