The TVET dividend: why vocational investment is paying off

The argument for technical and vocational education in Uganda used to be made apologetically. The infrastructure now being commissioned makes it without apology.

Institutes such as Nakawa Vocational Training Institute are being re-equipped, and employers, not just government, are increasingly at the table on what gets taught and assessed.

The shift matters because the old hierarchy, university first and a trade as consolation, never matched the labour market. Skilled technicians are scarce and, increasingly, well paid.

For parents, the question is changing from whether a TVET path is respectable to whether their child would rather hold a qualification that actually hires.