Authors: Innocent Mutale Mulenga, PhD (Lecturer of Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education, The University of Zambia) and Edward King Chileshe (Teacher, Nyimba Secondary School, Zambia)
Abstract: Zambia has the largest youthful population of below 15 and 18 years which constitute 45.5% and 52.5% of the total population respectively. This is expected to rise by 2030. However, this huge number of young persons, which should be a great resource for economic development, is mostly unemployed (UNESCO, 2016). For many years now the government of the Republic of Zambia has been running and introducing more Vocational Education and Training Institutions as a way of reducing unemployment amongst young people. Regardless of all these efforts, most youths in Zambia who have graduated from such institutions remain unemployed (TEVETA, 2015). In this study, the researchers investigated the appropriateness and adequacy of institution’s teaching and learning resources that the students were exposed to during trainings and how the industrial attachments were organized by the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions. The mixed method research approach was used to analyze this phenomenon. Six college principals were purposively sampled while stratified and simple random sampling were used to sample sixty lecturers, ten from each of the six colleges. Findings showed that TVET institutions in Zambia were plagued with a number of challenges ranging from lack of appropriate and modern workshop equipment, lack of reading material and ineffective industrial attachment. Researchers recommend that the Ministry of Higher Education and college managements should provide a conducive learning environment in these institutions if graduates were to acquire the required technical competencies.