A Comprehensive Assessment of the Ethiopian TVET System: Implications for Employment and Self-employment Opportunities with Special Reference to Addis Ababa City Administration

Abstract

The Ethiopian government has entrusted the responsibility of preparing skilled labor force and providing entrepreneurial skills at varying levels to the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system. This specialized educational system has the dual responsibilities of training the Ethiopian youth for salary/wage and self-employment. Nevertheless, due to over supply and skills gap, some of the TVET graduates could not secure employment even in highly demanded jobs. It is also noted that training in entrepreneurship is devoid of practical application and has not enabled graduates to initiate self-employment as an alternative to salary employment. To address this problem, albeit in hindsight, a strategy has been formulated to improve its quality. This article argues that implementing the strategy without the necessary preparations results in repeating the previous shortcomings of the system. Training TVET instructors, modularizing the curricula effectively, implementing a proactive TVET management, putting in place facilities for practical application and changing the TVET to demand-driven system are some of the pre-requisites to the implementation of the strategy. Constantly updating TVET teacher education is also of paramount importance. Objectives of the system are realized and transfer of skills and application of new technology are made possible only if TVET instructors and trainers are competent and responsible. With regard to self-employment, the opportunity that the informal sector can offer, the interplay among the TVET graduates themselves, regional states, the government, and NGO‟s are examined.