VET systems in Africa have generally inherited a colonial legacy of inequality of provision and access to VET based on race (McGrath et al., 2006). For example, in Mozambique, the Portuguese colonial experience is evident while in South Africa and Namibia the legacy of colonialism was exacerbated by Apartheid. In Zimbabwe, the same situation of unequal provision and access based on race existed. This has influenced the focus on increasing access and equity in the post-independence era. These inequalities meant that blacks would not get similar chances in employment as whites. This, in turn, informed post-independence VET policies to focus on giving skills for employment.
The main objective of VET in Africa is to reduce the problem of youth unemployment.
Historically, governments have been the biggest providers of VET in Africa, but because of challenges associated with government provision, there has been a policy shift towards promoting private provision following the liberalisation agenda of the IMF and World Bank. The World Bank encouraged the Zimbabwean government to liberalise the economy by adopting a policy known as ESAP which sought to reduce government’s participation in social aspects of the economy, including education (Kanyenze et al., 2011). Economic liberalisation sought to deal with the debt crisis faced by most sub-Saharan African countries (Oppong, 2014). A study by Mudukuti and Miller (2002) reveals that private provision of VET is an increasingly important component of the overall training system in sub-Saharan Africa. It has also emerged that as a result of the diversity of private providers, programmes offered in these centres are quite heterogeneous. There has also been a notable increase in unregistered training centres which raises quality issues in terms of provision of services, especially in countries such as Senegal and
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Mali (Mudukuti & Miller, 2002). Private providers of VET in Africa include, among others, NGOs, faith based organisations and non-religious private organisations. Though private sector provision has succeeded in expanding VET provision, reaching some corners that were previously hidden from government institutions, it could not be established whether private provision was more efficient when compared to government provision.
3.5.1 Challenges faced by the African VET system
Generally, VET provision in Africa is faced with common challenges which include the following: weak national economies, shrinking wage employment, high youth unemployment and uncoordinated and unregulated VET systems (African Union, 2007). VET in Africa is generally underfunded compared to general education provision as a number of studies carried out on the continent have revealed. According to the World Bank (2013), the underfunding of VET programmes is a result of a lack of consensus on government support.
Poor funding mechanisms for VET have been attributed to the weak political economies of Sub- Saharan countries (Lolwana, 2016). Measures adopted in some countries for funding VET such as cost-sharing between governments and students have not been effective. Funding for VET remains inadequate in Sub-Saharan countries ranging from 1% to 4% of national budgets (Oketch, 2016; Papier, 2016).
Apart from the weaknesses in VET systems in Africa, on the positive side it has been observed that African VET systems are undergoing reforms that are aimed at strengthening provision.
Notable among the reformation process has been the setting up of national training bodies in most countries such as the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) in Ghana, the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in South Africa and the National Manpower Advisory Council (NAMACO) in Zimbabwe among others (African Union, 2007; UNESCO, 2013c).
Other characteristics of the VET system in Sub-Saharan Africa include lack of practical relevance, poor responsiveness to the labour market and challenges with infrastructure and
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training equipment (Lolwana, 2016). Because of these and other challenges, VET systems within this region operate below capacity.
In the Zimbabwean education set up, vocational education was traditionally offered at three levels; secondary schools, vocational training centres and technical colleges (Mandiudza, 2015).
It was only in 2016 that agriculture was introduced as a compulsory vocational subject in primary schools, following the introduction of the new Curriculum Framework for Primary and Secondary Education, 2015-2022 (Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, 2016).
Of particular interest to this study is the vocational education offered in vocational training centres with specific reference to agriculture. Vocational training centres were set up in most districts of Zimbabwe in both rural and urban areas to equip people (mostly school drop outs) with skills for the informal labour market (Mandiudza, 2015). In most cases, they targeted those without five Ordinary level passes who would therefore be ineligible for higher education. Due to their flexible entry requirements and accessible locations to A1 farmers, these institutions are best positioned to offer training programmes to the farmers in their communities.
A study by Katsande sought to establish the place of VET in rural Zimbabwe from the perspective of students, teachers and education inspectors in the Murewa District of Zimbabwe (Katsande, 2016). The study focused on student attitudes towards vocational subjects and how those attitudes change with progression from primary to secondary school (Katsande, 2016).
Katsande’s study was of particular interest in this study for it exposes some weaknesses in VET provision in Zimbabwean rural areas. These findings can assist in identifying potential blind spots on factors that may potentially affect VET curriculum responsiveness. Of particular interest was the finding that rural based students have high motivation to enroll in VET. To that end, if opportunities are presented, some learners may enroll in agriculture related programmes. . Another study by Mandiudza focused on investigating instructional guidance policies and practices that are provided to support the teaching and learning of vocational subjects in secondary schools in Zimbabwe. Mandiudza’s study is of interest to the current study because it established the need for clear policies to guide curriculum implementation in teaching vocational
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subjects in Zimbabwe (Mandiudza, 2015). The study further revealed that, currently, there was discord in instructional guidance policies for VET subjects. The current study differs from the other studies in that these studies were situated in schools whereas this study is a comparative study of two vocational training centres. Katsande’s study focuses on attitudes of students towards vocational education while Mandiudza focuses on instructional guidance of teachers in those subjects.