Why unemployment in developing countries persists

Every year education systems in the so called developing world produce millions of job seekers that graduate in various fields. So, how many jobs do we create every year? Just a handful or none! Our education systems produce only job seekers, not job creators. Why? Because, we have failed to build our own education system and instead we just blindly adopted the “sincere clerks” producing system implanted, but not practiced by our former colonial masters. The kind of systems we have, destroy our self confidence and thinking ability, at the primary and secondary level.As said above, it would be self deception to say that we adopted the Western education. The Western education has proved to be superior in that it allows its learners to identify its potentials, and facilitate learners to specialize in a practical manner and in one field at a tender age. Do we do it? The obvious answer is NO.In the developing world, our products excel in theories and history of science, if they don’t do purely the latter. There is consequently a mismatch between qualitative demand and supply of labour. It further explains why we need to reorient our education systems to address the twin issues of skills gap and employment-we need job creators and not job seekers as matter of fact for sustainable development. The real lack of employment crisis in the developing world, which Rwanda is not immune, is due to lack of job creation. How many of our thousands of university graduates are able to create jobs? The answer to this question is a litmus test of our concern. Edmond Were, a Kenyan university lecturer and one of the most renowned scholars in sub-Saharan Africa, remarks that unemployment remains a great issue in the region. He said that the classical formal education given to African children should be revised to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “We cannot afford to continue teaching history of science in our schools instead of science. We must be able to positively correlate entrepreneurship and unemployment, to help our people create jobs and employment”. What is the way forward? Joblessness can hit individual job-seekers hard. Lacking a job often means living in a state of hopelessness and despair especially when you cannot afford basic needs. The solution lies in our capacity to embrace practical science teaching in secondary and vocational schools, so that we end ‘deceptive’ science teaching.In Rwanda, like other countries in the same category, even though there is still a long way to go, there are some schools and scholars ready to champion the change. This becomes more interesting when it is born in rural districts of the country, where there are many uneducated young men and women. Samuel Ruzindana the Headmaster of Nyamata High School in Bugesera district, observes that for education in Rwanda to meet the Millennium Development Goals, practical science should be given priority. He says that the school management has opted for long protracted fundamental changes that will see Nyamata High School, turn into a Model Science school in the country. “We had to think great to meet the Rwanda’s Vision 2020...we shall embrace total practical science teaching in the near future. It will be an environment that allows learners to graduate as complete job creators”. It is such thinking from our educationists and scholars that will see our children end the long journey, of job searching. It is so mesmerising, to find one with a high certificate of learning in physics for instance, not able to repair or fabricate a simple machine like a bicycle. Ruzindana opines that the kind of education should not only provide practical science skills, but also entrepreneur skills that will allow such graduates, to start up enterprises. “I am dismayed by the view of thousands of graduates queuing for jobs whenever there is an advert. Our products should be able to employ not only the learned, but even those who were not privileged to access formal education”. It is this line of thinking that will help our country to meet the demands of MDGs. Every goal revolves around education; this explains why our concern for meaningful science education is crucial. We use ‘meaningful science’ to mean a science that can create jobs, not the history of science taught in our schools today. Theodore Rangira a fresh university graduate says that the theories he studied cannot allow him to create any job.He says that he inevitably had to seek for employment in public or private institutions. “We are enslaved by the kind of education we get...we are at the same burden to the government whenever we are not. So it’s high time practical science and ICT were supported in all schools,” he advises. mugitoni@yahoo.com