President Yoweri Museveni has reiterated a call to overhaul the education system and ensure that the universities stop graduating students in irrelevant disciplines. Museveni said that many of the jobless Ugandan youths hold qualifications that are not relevant to the labour market today.
"We have a big problem now, we have been so successful in producing university graduates but who are qualified in all irrelevant disciplines." Museveni said.
The president was speaking at the opening of the ongoing Commonwealth Youth Ministers' meeting at Speke Resort Munyonyo last evening. The meeting convened by the commonwealth secretariat brings together youth leaders from Commonwealth countries.
Museveni cited a number of courses in the country's education system which he said are not relevant to the labour market. He cited qualifications in Conflict Resolution, Women and Gender Studies and Psychology, saying these, could be studied as units in Political Science.
While noting that the issue of irrelevant education is not a new debate, Museveni recounted his school time in 1964 when he studied Geography of the British Alps.
Without divulging details, President Museveni said that government has started a campaign to convert some of the graduates to more market oriented courses.
"Yes, you have got a degree in Greek, you have got a degree in all sorts of things but can you go back and study a certificate in metal work or computer science so that you can find what to do in the labour market," Museveni said.
This is not the first time President Museveni is criticizing the country's education system. Over the years, President Museveni has advised universities to scraping courses that do not contribute to national development in favour of sciences, information technology and business courses.
National Planning Authority (NPA) statistics released in March this year indicate that at least nine in every 10 Ugandans who have completed any form of education are unemployed.
Statistics shows that 700,000 people join the job market every year regardless of qualification but only 90,000 get jobs translating to 87 percent of people ready to work but fail to find jobs.
