By Kellen Owente
It is common for one to complete university without an idea of where to find a job. This is, in part, due to the fact that many students do not get exposed to job opportunities while still in school.
But the first New Vision Education Expo, which starts this Friday, seeks to fix this, and that is why students say they cannot wait to take part in this fair.
Yusuf Welunga, the president of the Uganda National Students Association (UNSA) – a body that brings together all students in the country – urges all learners to attend the three-day expo.
“As an association, we are mobilising our students through our structures to participate in this expo,” he says. “We encourage all students across the country to participate in this expo because we (students) stand to benefit from this expo more than the organisers,”
The expo will take place at the Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Nakawa, Kampala, between January 27 and 29. It is designed to create connections between education and employment as emphasised by its theme – where education and the world of work meet.
Career opportunities
Welunga notes that this expo presents students with a big platform to learn about careers and receive knowledge from experts as well as build networks.
“Everyone, whether you are a student or not, will have something to take away from this expo designed to serve as a one-stop centre for everything education,” he adds. “Teachers have told us (UNSA) how hard it is to implement the lower secondary curriculum and we are hopeful this expo will be helpful to them,”
But as Welunga observes, the content which will be supplied during the training session designed for the teachers and parents to learn more about the curriculum will be useful to the students as well.
“The expo is a blessing to the learners and parents as well as teachers,” Welunga adds.
COVID-19 and curriculum
Uganda rolled out the skills-based curriculum for lower secondary in 2020. But its implementation was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to a two-year school closure.
So, the pioneers of the curriculum are now in Senior Three instead of Four. Some parts of this curriculum are still not well-appreciated by teachers, parents and learners. By bringing all educational actors into one place, this expo seeks to increase knowledge about this curriculum and contribute to its smooth implementation.
“Many people are facing problems understanding the competence-based curriculum,” the Vision Group special projects manager, Sidney Miria, says. “This is, therefore, an opportunity for both the parents and students to learn more from the eminent speakers and experts,”
Other training sessions will focus on parenting, early childhood development education, career guidance and counselling, vocational education and opportunities and university training.
This expo is also an opportunity for anyone working in the education industry to showcase their brands, Miria adds. Racheal Sserwadda, the Uganda Christian University guild president, says she is looking forward to the expo and will mobilise students to take part in it.
“This is a good idea. I hope it is a one-off event but an annual one. There have been expos targeting other issues, but an education-oriented expo means a lot for everyone,” she adds. “I hope it can discuss mental health because it is a big challenge in schools,”
