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Oct 24, 2015 News
“There is a tendency for those in now developing countries to continue going to school because the jobs are not there.” This was a sentiment expressed by Dr. Hassan Ndahi, Senior Specialist for Skills and Employability, ILO office for the Caribbean.
Ndahi was at the time speaking at an orientation workshop hosted by the Council for Technical, Vocational Education Training (TVET) and the International Labor Organization which was held at Cara Lodge, Georgetown.
While many may say being overqualified is not necessarily a problem, Ndahi made interesting comments on the reason behind overqualified persons in different societies. He opined that many persons across the world continue to study throughout the years due to the lack of job opportunities for them.
In many cases, these persons remain unemployed as even when positions open up; they have too many qualifications for it. Ndahi said that unemployment rates in most developed countries are lower than now developing countries. One would not find as many overqualified person’s in developed countries, he said.
“If you look around, today we are having a lot of young people who are overqualified. Why are they overqualified? Sometimes it’s because there is no employment for them so they keep going to school and this issue is prevalent in now developing countries more than in developed countries,” said Ndahi.
On the topic of education, the ILO representative also commented on the need for competitive education in all countries despite their development stage. Despite the many reasons for unemployment, lack of quality education was identified as one of the main hurdles in garnering decent employment opportunities for young adults.
“I was raised in a different country but today I find myself in a different part of the world. My education was very competitive so I can function here.”
He said that despite an individual being over-qualified in his country, most often they are considered to be under-qualified in developed countries due to the quality of education provided to them. Competitive education was said to allow persons to function in different societies across the world as their qualifications are recognized.
“Often times when they go for an interview with an employer they are told that they are under qualified,” said Ndahi.
An example in support of the ILO statements is the recently un-accredited medical school at the University of Guyana. Medical students who would have gained their degrees from the medical school recently found out that their degrees are not valid outside of Guyana.
The ILO representative also took the opportunity to comment upon global unemployment rate. The unemployment rate was said to have been circling around 86 million for a while but over the last three years, this number has dropped to 76 million.
The need to prepare young adults for challenges they may come across in the workplace, he said.
The Advisory Committee is said to be committed to making efforts to bridge the gaps in the education system. This is being done by providing information, helping the work of the council and providing quality education.
The national advisory committee plays a very important role as they support TVET council by providing information and building and changing workforce requirements. Guyana’s national TVET system was said to have been created to meet the changing demands of global competitiveness.
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