Ubteb wants policy on internships as industries decline to train students 

The Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) has urged government to compel the industry and private sector to offer internship placements to technical and vocational trainees.

Speaking at the release of the April/May End of Programme examination results last week, Ubteb executive secretary, Onesmus Oyesigye, said there is increased reluctance by some organizations to offer industrial attachment places to trainees. This, he said, has delayed completion rates for most trainees.

“All stakeholders, especially the industry and Private Sector in general, should be called upon to play a role in the training of TVET graduates through offering industrial field attachments. There is a need for policy guidance as far as field attachment is concerned,” Oyesigye said.

He added: “A framework could be developed where government can engage the industries so that a mechanism to incentivize the industries with some form of subsidies on their various inputs is put in place.”

Oyesigye also emphasized the need for training institutions to take students for frequent industrial exposure to gain real-life practical experience that applies to their working environment.

His calls come at a time when Ubteb is fully transforming to modular assessment as envisaged in the 2019 TVET Policy and the National Development Plan (NDP III).

Under modular assessment, a person studies a module of a given course and joins the world of work as opposed to studying a full program before they are assessed. A person is permitted to return and complete the entire program when next offered.

In April-May 2023, the board registered at least 13,209 candidates for the end of programme assessment. Of these 7,701 were female and 5,508 male. Out of the total candidature, at least 8,538 (65%) sat the examinations in 22 centers while 4,671 (35%) missed the assessment.

This was partly because some technical colleges were unable to present candidates.

GENERAL PERFORMANCE

The rating of the candidates in these results considered their participation in Continuous Assessment, Industrial Training, Practical Assessment, Real-life Projects, and written theory assessment.

Generally, out of the 8,538 candidates who sat the examinations, 6,913 candidates (81%) successfully acquired all competencies in their respective trades. More female candidates (3,931) completed their programmes than male candidates with 2,982 (43%).

FUNDING GAPS

Oyesigye said the pandemic and lockdown-related effects have continued to affect the pattern of conduct of examinations from the usual two assessment series to the present three series per year.

“We also need more government funding to conduct practical on-spot assessments for enhanced hands-on training and assessment for better skills acquisition. Inadequate equipment like computers in institutions and the high cost of internet connectivity services remained a challenge to most centers,” he said.

Ubteb board chairperson Dr Silver Mugisha appealed for more government funding to cater for the unit cost of assessment of TVET trainees and the completion of the UBTEB Assessment Centre Construction Project.

“The construction of the five-storey project that started in 2022 is now at 22 % work progress, though below schedule due to untimely release of funds and budget cuts,” Mugisha said.