CSEC Faults Government for High Unemployment Rate

By: Happy Arnold Soko

 

Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) says Malawi government is not doing enough in creating jobs for thousands of graduates who remains jobless despite leaving the University of Malawi (Unima) and other private colleges with skills.

Speaking in an interview with The Malawi Star, CSEC Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe, who is also an education activist, said the current education policy need to be revised.

“The challenge as a country is that we have not systematically mapped out in terms of job opportunities that are available and the classification of the needed expertise for various sectors of the economy.

“Government is not doing enough in creating jobs for these graduates. It is a sad development when you consider how expensive education is in Malawi,” explained Kondowe.

He added that in other countries, governments create bureaus that looks at skills and expertise needed for the current period from which youths are employed.

The activist further said that it is unfortunate for the country to produce graduates every year when there is no job formulation by the authorities.

Kondowe said his organization will work with government to revise the education policy that provides jobs to graduates.

“This time having a tertiary education is almost nothing. As an organization we will continue engaging the government and demand its obligation and responsibility to the Malawian,” he added.

According to Kondwe, Malawi Universities continue to maintain courses that do not map the current required skills by industries.

Due to high levels of unemployment, over the past month some people took advantage of the job seekers by creating a bogus vacancy at Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) from which 6 thousand people applied.

Disappointingly, the institution never advertised for the particular post.