The social status perception of technical and vocational education and training in Africa: a critical review

In the wake of recent advances in scientific and technological innovations, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions have emerged as one of the key players in advancing scientific and technological literacy. Many countries around the world have invested a lot in TVET and Africa countries are not an exception. This is mainly because TVET has been viewed as a key to unlock human resource potentials with an aim of harnessing industrial and economic development. Support for TVET in Africa is clearly seen by increase in the number of TVET institutions offering various TVET courses, upgrading of TVET institutions in terms of infrastructure and human resources and linking education and the world of work through curriculum design, implementation and evaluation. However, some countries in Africa have not fully embraced the contribution of TVET in economic development because of the low social status perception from the general public on TVET. This means that any attempt made to improve TVET may be futile if the perception held by the general public on TVET is doomed. This paper explores some of the negative perceptions on TVET with an aim of identifying why TVET has a low social perception in most developing countries in Africa and recommend possible ways of enhancing the status and attractiveness of TVET.

Keywords: Africa, Developing Countries, Low Social Status, Perception, TVET