Vocational studies final exams register highest number of candidates this year

More than 62,000 candidates are sitting for the 11th series of Uganda Business and Technical Examinations starting today.

This is the highest number of candidates registered ever since the inception of the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) in 2011. They include 45,879 males and 17,017 are females - an increment of 7,363 candidates.

UBTEB Executive Secretary Onesmus Oyesigye told URN that the examinations will be conducted for all registered candidates in National Technical Craft, Agriculture, Business, Cooperatives, Fisheries, Meteorology, Lands and Survey programmes.

The examinations according to Oyesigye, involve candidates sitting for practical and theory examinations that are oriented towards Competence Based Education Training (CBET) followed by industrial training thereafter. The process will lead to the award of Certificates and Diplomas.

Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, the board's chairperson says that in 2011, the Board registered more than 12,000 pioneer candidates. The number rose to 45,064 in 2012, a momentum that was maintained in subsequent years. Today they have 62,896 candidates

Prof. Baryamureeba said that the surge in the number of students joining technical institutions is an indication of changing attitudes among Ugandans embracing skills development programmes.

URN spoke to a cross section of vocational students and technical education instructors who shared the secret behind their interests in embracing skills development as hands on experience ready for job market in Uganda's human resource gaps.

-URN