Education play a fundamental role in the overall development of a nation and hence, has been declared by many countries as a human rights issue as attested to by the 1990 Jomtien declaration on Education For All, and the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Zambian Government has recognized the important role education plays in grooming morally and intellectually upright individuals with the intentions of using the acquired skills and knowledge for the overall development of the country. Skills development equally plays a pivotal role in a nation’s economic development and hence a country needs skills that are vital for it to develop.
General Background
In Zambia, the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) Sector is responsible for skills development and is regulated by the Technical Educational, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA). Management of the TEVET Sector before was fragmented. Though the major TEVET providers were managed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training (MSTVT) through the then Department of Technical Education and Vocational Training (DTEVT), there were other Government ministries, parastatals, church organisations, non-Governmental organisations NGOs), and indeed private institutions offering and managing skills training at various levels all around the country. Training was not regulated, resulting in fragmentation and a proliferation of un-validated qualifications, among other shortfalls, which presented a big challenge to employers in terms of determining acquired competences due to lack of national standards. In addition, there was, and still is, an outcry from employers on the quality of
graduates from the TEVET Sector, who did not meet the competence and productivity standards required by the labour market, and hence are not able to contribute effectively to national development. This called for reforms to make the Sector operate more efficiently and produce better quality graduates.
TEVET Policy Reforms
From 1994, the Government started introducing reforms and transformational initiatives in the TEVET Sector in order to standardise and regulate training, and strengthen the training system in order to produce more competent graduates who would be able to contribute more effectively to national development. These reforms saw the formulation of the TEVET Act in 1998, the dissolution of DTEVT in 1999, and the establishment of TEVETA in 2000, the organisation that is now mandated to coordinate, monitor and regulate training.
Since 1996, the major policies that have been at play in as far as guiding training provision is concerned are the Technical Educational, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) Policy of 1996, the TEVET Act No13 of 1998 and the TEVET Amendment Act no. 11 of 2005, which outlines the management structure of all Government-run institutions, as well as providing a regulatory framework for all TVET providers. These Acts have been complimented by the Citizens Economic Empowerment Act No. 9 of 2006, which specifies the importance of collaboration with industry in skills development and technological transfer.
The above policies are underpinned in the Vision 2030 and the 6th National Development Plan (6th NDP), which shall end in 2015. The vision 2030 is the main national development plan which is segmented in 5-year national development plans, the current one being the 6th NDP.
The TEVET Policy (1996) recognises the need for gearing TVET towards a changing economy which, compared with the preceding years, is increasingly based on the informal sector and strives to establish a TVET system capable of the following:
• Balancing the supply of skilled labour at all levels with the demands of the economy;
• Acting as a vehicle for improved productivity and income generation;
• Being an instrument for the minimization of inequalities among people.
The Policy (1996) also encapsulates economic and social objectives such as “developing a Zambian society with people that will be versatile, creative, employable, entrepreneurial and
productive” on the economic context. As regards to the social objectives the main focus is to
“provide skills and opportunities that will respond to Zambia’s needs such as poverty alleviation, improved housing and improved health care”.
The Vision 2030 (2006) recognises TVET as an integral part of the education and skills development sector and its contribution to economic development. The vision for the Education and Skills Development Sector includes (vii.) the aim of increasing skill training output by 2% per annum and increasing equity of access while maintaining internationally recognised and locally validated standards of quality.
With regard to TEVET, the main objective of the 6th National Development Plan is “to increase efficiency and equitable access to quality basic skills and TEVET”, and one of the main strategies for achieving the aforementioned objective is “to promote collaboration with private sector as a way of improving the link between training and labour market requirements”.
New Educational/TEVET Policy objectives include “To improve quality of the TEVET system and thereby ensure output of competent graduates”, and “To improve efficiency and effectiveness of the system”, among others. For these objectives to be achieved requires putting of appropriate structures and systems in place, one such a system being the development of a qualifications framework. While TEVETA plays a key role in the implementation structures and systems, a strong collaboration among all the stakeholders inclusive of industry and training providers is cardinal in ensuring the system churns out graduates who are competent and productive enough to effectively drive the economy.
The Zambian National Qualifications Framework
In 2011, the Government passed a law on the establishment of a National Qualifications Framework through the Qualifications Authority Act No. 13 of 2011. This is a 10 level national qualifications framework (NQF), which is anchored in the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (MESVTEE), with one side looking at general education from early childhood up to Grade 12, and from Diploma to PhD, while the other side looks at TEVT (from Trade Certificate to Diploma/Technologist).
Table 1: A 4 level Zambian TQF within a 10 level NQF NQF
levels
General Education System
TEVET System
Higher Education System
10 Doctorates
9 Masters Degrees
8 Post-graduate qualifications
7 First degrees and advanced
diplomas
6 Diplomas Diplomas
5 Advanced Certificates
(leading to technician status)
4 Grade 12
High School
Craftsman Certificates (leading to Craftsman status)
3 Trade Certificate
2
1 Basic Education – grade 9
The side which looks at TEVET is called the TEVET Qualifications Framework (TQF) and takes four middle levels of the NQF. The implementation of the TQF has brought about registration of qualifications and coherent articulation of demand for skills, and will contribute to enhancement of training and learning by allowing involvement of all key stakeholders in development of various training programmes.
Institutional Ownership
Institutions that are regulated by TEVETA in the Zambian TEVET sector fall in six main categories as follows:
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are being developed and implemented to enable more learners access TVET and to provide them with an opportunity to interact with new knowledge and technology on the market, thereby enhancing skills acquisition.
Zambia is moving towards establishment of school vocational training but no systems are in place yet and a lot needs to be done. The policy statement has already been formulated but a strategy paper to articulate the policy is yet to be developed.