Islands Business - We Say: HARNESS POTENTIAL OF YOUTHFUL ENERGY

‘...the region as a whole has lagged behind much of the developing world in the area of skills development with technical and vocational training.'

Developing avenues to impart technical and vocational skills is undoubtedly one of the most important initiatives that helps people to be gainfully employed and be part of a productive workforce in the building and functioning of any national economy.

In a world where skills shortage is known to be growing across the board, more people with the right skills are in increasing demand—which is but one of the main drivers of the tremendous growth in the migration of skilled workers all over the globe.

Consequently that growth in migration has spurred worldwide growth in the amount of remittances sent home by migrant workers and for several developing countries, remittances from skilled workers employed abroad are one of the main channels of revenue powering their economies. Many of the Pacific islands are no exception when it comes to remittance-driven economies.

But the region as a whole has lagged behind much of the developing world in the area of skills development with technical and vocational training. Though several islands nations have in place a system for imparting technical and vocational education, much of it is in need of modernisation and upgrading in several aspects, an important new study has revealed.

The study, funded by the government of Japan, the Philippines-headquartered Asian Development Bank and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, highlights the importance of expanding technical and vocational education and training programmes in the Pacific Islands.

Titled “Skilling the Pacific”, the exhaustive study that covered most of the Forum islands nations points out that a lack of skills development has imposed major constraints on the opportunities for people to raise incomes and also for the development of the private sector. The review looks at the issue of technical and vocational education from an economic rather than a political perspective with a focus on jobs for the wage economy or informal sector, with equity as a parallel concern. “Political and social objectives of training may have their valid uses, but are not a primary focus of this review,” it says.

Importantly, it has also brought to light the fact that women and girls are the most disadvantaged in terms of gaining access to technical and vocational education and training.

It is of concern that the opportunities for developing technical and vocational skills are only available to between five and 15 percent of those who enter the labour market ,which indeed is a glaring lacuna that begs urgent correction.

The importance of keeping a nation’s young people gainfully employed and engaged in continuously improving their skills so that they are duly equipped to aspire for a better life can never be overstated. A young, gainfully employed workforce not just spurs the economy but also grows to be the bedrock of a strong and peaceful community.

Many islands nations have realised this and some like Samoa and Tonga have informal programmes run by social organisations and churches to keep the youth engaged in some gainful manner in a bid to help them channel their energy.

Of course many of the countries also have more formal technical and vocational training institutions run by churches—some of which have come in for praise in the report—and governments that have been set up many years ago but have tended to stagnate because of the lack of investment in newer modern equipment and even curricula. Though both these informal and formal efforts and channels of imparting education must be appreciated and encouraged, they need to be supplemented with a plan for managing their activities professionally by incorporating newer ideas and equipping them with the right infrastructure.

This report makes a number of recommendations for reforming the manner in which technical and vocational education is offered across the region. If implemented it could lead to significant improvements in skills development.

The report is in depth in its scope and has considered the special and different needs of every islands nation—it does not take a one size fits all approach, which will be valuable for individual islands governments to follow as a guideline as they set about the task of modernising the delivery of technical and vocational education.

Importantly, the report suggests a national qualification framework for national governments to implement.

Though some of the governments have them, it would be a good idea to look at them afresh and incorporate newer parameters for qualification and also standardising them regionally.

Some of the other key recommendations of the report are better coordination of different agencies engaged in the delivery of vocational and technical training; better liaison with both the local and regional job market; creating a development and innovation fund to counter the chronic under funding of this important sector; developing training programmes for rural areas and outreach programmes for distant atolls that are cut off from the main centres of the country. Coordination of different agencies is key for the success of the restructure of technical education in the region. It must be made sure that different organisations do not scatter their valuable resources in needlessly duplicating efforts.

For instance, the newly founded Australian Technical Training College has set itself a region-wide agenda for technical training and vocational education.

The efforts of this new institution must be brought in synchronisation with whatever the rest of the regional plans whenever it decides to act on the new report’s recommendations.

Hospitality College in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Pic: Dev Nadkarni

Just an instance of what a good technical school with well equipped infrastructure, a modern curriculum and an able faculty can achieve is being demonstrated by the European Union-funded Hospitality College at Port Vila in Vanuatu which formally opened recently. Some 12 of its first batch of students have already been employed full time at one of Vanuatu’s top hotels.

Islands governments must take the necessary steps to make the best of the report and take it to its logical conclusion by implementing recommendations that suit them best—for that is the only practical way to harness the potential of youthful energy, keep more people including women gainfully employed in the labour force and ensure the growth of the private sector, which indeed is the most powerful engine of growth for small economies.