JVER v25n2 - A Survey of Vocational Training Needs of 10-18 Years-Old Out-of-School Rural Youth in the North-East District of Botswana
A Survey of Vocational Training Needs of 10 - 18 Years-Old Out-Of-School Rural Youth in the North-East District of Botswana.
P. J. Squire
Botswana College of AgricultureAbstract
The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the vocational training needs of rural youth in Botswana. The objectives were to: (1) describe the demographic characteristics of the out-of-school rural youth in the age group of 10-18 years, (2) identify the out-of-school youth vocational training needs, and (3) describe the problems the out-of-school youth face in rural areas. A cluster sampling method was used and data were collected with the use of an interview schedule. The findings showed that the majority of the respondents were in the age group of 16 - 18 years, 55% female, 63% single, 52% had only primary education, and 60% were unemployed. The majority of the youth (51%) chose careers in farm trades, and a plurality (16%) chose to pursue careers in building and construction trades. Other career options were not popular among the youth for training. The youth identified the lack of educational facilities, employment security, recreational facilities, health education, decision-making opportunities and access to land as major problems affecting them in rural areas. It was recommended that government and non governmental organizations: (1) provide vocational training in farm trades, (2) establish youth clubs, and (3) provide leadership, financial and logistical support for the youth to develop and manage self- sustaining enterprises that can create employment in the rural areas.Introduction
In Botswana, the population of youth is projected to reach 636,000 by the year 2001 and 796,000 by the year 2016, and the school age population is projected to reach about 700,000 by the year 2001 and slightly less than one million by 2021. Even though enough places in basic education for all children of school age were created during National Development Plan 7 period (1991 -1997), the 1991 Census Report indicated that 17% of school age children were not enrolled. Factors contributing to the non-enrollment of children in schools were disability, poverty, dropouts, cultural reasons, and the remoteness of some communities ( Ministry of Finance and Development planning, 1997 ). In addition, young people in Botswana find themselves in the middle of a process of transition from the traditional to modern society. The gradual breakdown of the extended family system which provides support and social guidance to youth has compounded the problems of rural youth. Furthermore, unemployment has emerged as a critical concern among youth. The overall unemployment rate, according to the 1991 census, was 13.9% and the majority of these cases were unskilled youth under the age of 30, particularly those aged between 12 and 24 years. In 1981, the unemployment rate amongst females falling within 15 to 19 years of age was about 26%; in 1984/85, 33%; and in 1991, it further rose to 43% ( Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, 1997 ).
Conceptual Framework
FAO ( 1985 ) report described youth as young men and women between 15 and 24 years of age, and can be married or single. According to Eyben ( 1993 ), youth are young people who are in an age of crisis, can put their ability to logical thinking and to a variety of uses, enjoy engaging with ideas, and can experiment and explore playfully. In Botswana, the national youth policy adopted in 1996, defined youth as a proportion of the population falling within the age range of 12 to 29 years. According to the 1991 population census, there were 475,443 young people, aged 12 to 19 years in Botswana, which was 36% of the county's population ( Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, 1997 ).
Most industrial societies consider a person to be a youth or adolescent from age 13 to at least 18 years. In these societies, adolescence roughly corresponds to the teenage years. In agricultural societies in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, which need a lot of workers, most boys and girls are expected to become economically productive when they reach sexual maturity. Adulthood for most of the youth begins at an early age and therefore, youth status of children in these regions of the world is very brief or non-existent ( The World Book Encyclopaedia, 1982 ).
FAO ( 1985 ) reports show that rural youth constitutes the largest sector of the youth population in Africa. The youth are confronted with problems such as lack of amenities, social services, isolation, youth organizations, face contradictions between the new and the traditional attitudes and systems, have limited access to land and to new agricultural technologies, and have financial constraints and traditional attitudes, especially with regard to the role of girls and women in society.
Musgroove ( 1964 ) explained that the present status of rural youth has emerged from the economic, demographic, and educational changes, as well as from the changing values, in part, determined by new philosophies about youth. The status of youth has profound consequences for: (1) the kind and quality of relationships that exist between different generations, (2) the differences in status between various groups of young people that arise very largely from their economic functions, (3) the type of education youth enjoy, and (4) the status differences that underlie varying responses such as delinquency, separatist - cultural or political youths' movements, or apathetic conformity to the prevailing value systems of the adult world. These have a bearing on the way youth relate to the wider society.
A 1985 FAO report outlined the following as major problems facing youth in Third World countries: (1) basic education in rural areas rarely equips young men and women with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable them to achieve their full potential as individuals and as members of society. Many rural youth lack functional literacy skills and are unable to cope with the demands of modern - day society; (2) a positive image has not been promoted among rural youth who view themselves as inferior to the seemingly sophisticated young people from urban areas; (3) national policies to support rural youth programs in the areas of youth leadership training, incentives for group activities, the allocation of funds and land for individual or group project activities, instructional materials and teaching aids, public information and a variety of other support mechanisms are lacking in most rural areas; and (4) for rural youth, the availability of jobs, unfavorable working conditions, and the lack of opportunity for further training and promotion are all part of an uncertain future over which they have no control.
A particular problem in sub-Saharan Africa is that 50% of school age girls, a total of 36 million, are out of school, compared with an average of 18.6 % in North Africa. The primary school completion rate for girls is only 34% and only 10% of girls compared to 36% of boys attend secondary school in the sub region. Non-formal and literacy programs have also not grown fast enough to make up for the shortfalls in the formal educational system. The number of illiterate adults in the sub-region continues to increase and it is projected to reach 146.8 million in this century ( African Recovery, 1996 ).
UNESCO ( 1996 and 1997 ), recommended that by putting knowledge and practical life skills (about such issues as family health, food production, and environmental protection) at the disposal of families, it should be possible to accelerate progress in achieving basic education goals by the end of the 1990s, reduce the adult literacy rate to half of the 1990 level, and end the great disparities in education between boys and girls.
A study by Squire ( 1974 ) in Sierra Leone showed that a majority of the rural youth in the age group of 10 to 18 years were interested in pursuing vocational training in agriculture (95%), carpentry (86%), tailoring (74%), masonry (71%), plumbing (65%), weaving (54%), motor mechanics (52%), and painting (50%). Few children showed interest in computing, cosmetology, fine arts, electronics, and welding.
In a study of 100 educated unemployed youth in four villages in the Hisar District of Haryana State of India, Sheehrawat and Sharma ( 1994 ) showed that the most important factors which dissuaded the rural youth from taking farming as an occupation were: (1) attraction towards white collar jobs, (2) uncertainty about the failure of field crops, (3) low prices for crop produce, (4) assured income in service, and (5) low profit in farming as compared with other businesses.
Vocational education has an important role to play in the development of the majority of the rural youth in Botswana, and will reflect a positive development in the rural areas that are undergoing substantial socio-economic changes in the country ( Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, 1997 ). According to Rhodes ( 1969 ), vocational education (1) gives definite purpose and meaning to education by relating education to occupational goals, (2) provides the technical knowledge and work skills necessary for employment, and (3) develops abilities, attitudes, work habits and appreciation which contribute to a satisfying and productive life.
The Botswana Government manpower development objectives for the plan period 1997/98 and 2002/2003 will focus on: (1) preparing the people of Botswana for productive lives; (2) training citizens in various skills and professions to meet the manpower requirements of the economy, and (3) increasing educational opportunities for all age groups in the population with the aim of reducing educational inequalities ( Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, 1997 ). These manpower development objectives reflect the United Nations ( 1990, p.1-20 ) plan for education, which indicates that "every person - child, youth and adult shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs that comprise both essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and problem solving) and the basic learning content such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes, required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve on the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions, and to continue learning."
Methodology
Purpose and Objectives
The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the vocational training needs of youth in selected rural areas in Botswana. The specific objectives were to: (1) identify the training needs of 10 - 18 year's out-of-school rural youth, (2) describe the problems out-of-school rural youth face, and (3) describe the demographic characteristics of 10-18 years old out-of-school rural youth.
Population and Sample
A total of 150 10-18 years old out-of-school rural youth in the North-East-District participated in the study. Since the study population frame did not exist, a cluster sample of 20 wards, rather than individual 10-18 years old out-of-school rural youth were randomly selected from ten villages in the North-East-District of Botswana. All 10-18 years old out-of- school youth in each of the 20 wards selected were interviewed. The wards are sub-local administrative areas in each village in Botswana.
Instrumentation
A structured instrument, comprising closed and open-ended questions was used to collect the data. Content validity of the instrument was established by experts in agricultural education at the Botswana College of Agriculture and reliability was established by a pilot test, with the use of out-of-school children in the same age group as the study sample but outside the study area. The pilot test yielded a reliability coefficient of .90 at 0.5 alpha level of significance.
Data Collection
Data were collected by a face-to-face interview schedule because mailing and other methods were either unavailable or unreliable. Data were analyzed with the aid of the SPSS PC + computer program and reported using descriptive statistics. The youth used a six-point Likert-type response scale (1= Very strongly disagree, 2 =strongly disagree, 3 = slightly disagree, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree, and 6 = very strongly agree) to rate their perceptions of the problems in table 2. A median of 3.5 would separate agreement from disagreement in interpreting data in Table 2. In Tables 1 and 3, frequencies and percentages were used to describe the data.
Findings
In Table 1, the respondents were requested to identify a vocational career in which they were interested in pursuing training from a list of options provided. The majority of the youth (51%) chose careers in farm trades; 16% in building and construction trades, 8% in metal trades and 5% wanted to become football players. Other career options attracted percentages from 4% and below, indicating that they were not very popular among the youth for training.
Table 1 Vocational training needs of the 10 - 18 years out-of-school rural youth (n = 150)
Vocational Training Area f %
Farmer 77 51 Building and Consturction Trades 24 16 Metal Trades 12 8 Football Player 8 5 Nurse 6 4 Wood Carvers 5 3 Electrical Trades 4 3 Painter 3 2 Automotive Trades 3 2 Food Service 2 1 Wild Life Guard/Tracker 2 1 Hair Dresser/Barber 1 1 Driver 1 1 Computer Technician 1 1 Electronics Technician (Repair radios/TVs) 1 1 Tailor 0 0 Business Managment 0 0 Sculptor 0 0
According to Table 2, the youth positively agreed about the problems they faced with educational facilities (Mean = 4.85), employment security (Mean = 4.82), recreational facilities (Mean = 4.79), health education (Mean = 4.76), access to land (Mean = 4.72), decision making (Mean = 4.62), divorce in the family (M = 3.58), abuse by adults (M = 3.56), and hunger (3.55). The respondents disagreed with other problems with means below 3.5.
Table 2 Problems affecting 10-18 years out-of-school rural youth (n=150)
Problems Youth Face in Rural Areas Mean Rank
Educational Facilities 4.85 1 Employment Security 4.82 2 Recreational Facilities 4.79 3 Health Education 4.76 4 Access to Land 4.72 5 Decision Making 4.62 6 Divorce in the Family 3.58 7 Abuse by Adults 3.56 8 Hunger 3.55 9 Recognition in the Village 3.32 10 Information Support 2.21 11 Financial Support 2.17 12 Cultural Idenitity 2.14 13 Career Guidance 1.11 15 Legal Support 1.06 16
Likert Scale: 1 = very strongly disagree to 6 = very strongly agree
Table 3 shows that 50% of the respondents were in the age group of 16 -18 years, 55% were female, 63% single, 60% were unemployed, 52% had only primary education, 10% never attended school and 27% had junior secondary education.
Table 3 Characteristics of 10-18 years out-of-school rural youth (n=150)
Characheristic of Youth f %
A. Age Range 10-12 31 21 13-15 44 29 16-18 75 50
B. Gender Male 67 45 Female 83 55 C. Marital Status Single 95 63 Married 55 37 Divorced 0 0 D. Employment Status Employed 22 15 Unemployed 90 60 Work on parents' farm 38 25 E. Educational Status Never Attended School 15 10 Attended Primary School 78 52 Attended Junior Secondary School 40 27 Attended Senior Secondary School 12 8 Attended Tertiarty Institution 5 3
Conclusion and Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study the following conclusions were made: (1) the majority of the youth generally want to pursue careers in farming, (2) the youth were generally between 16-18 years of age, female, single, unemployed and attended only primary school, and (3) the youth face many problems in the rural areas. Specific recommendations made based on the findings of the study were to: (1) provide vocational training programs in farming and building and construction careers for the 10 to 18 years out-of-school rural youth; (2) establish youth clubs or youth movements in rural areas to cater to the recreational, and other developmental needs (including leadership, moral) for out-of-school youth; and (3) provide the necessary leadership, financial and other logistical support for the youth to develop and manage self-sustaining enterprises that can create employment in the rural areas.
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Author
P.J. SQUIRE is Senior Lecturer, Botswana College of Agriculture, University of Botswana, Private Bag 0027, Gaborone [E-Mail: psquire@temo.bca.bw ]. Dr. Squire's area of expertise is Teacher Education in Agriculture.