In its proposal to restructure this sector of the education system, the Professional Education Reform Executive Commission (COREP) reached this figure by estimating that it will take between 4.5 and six million dollars to equip a modern training institution for the engineering industry, providing the high level of skills for trainees that are required by employers.
So far donors and funding agencies have disbursed 70 million dollars to implement the Professional Education Integrated Reform Programme (PIREP). Apart from acquiring and installing equipment, the programme envisages rehabilitating and/or expanding the schools, and also the training centres that will provide teachers for this level of education.
COREP warns that the financial headache is not limited to capital costs. Even today the funds allocated to the technical and professional schools, both by the Ministry of Education and by the Ministry of Labour, are insufficient to meet the running costs.
The Ministry of Education describes technical and professional education as "very expensive" - it is 2.5 to three times more expensive per student than general secondary education.
The modern equipment and materials needed for the courses are expensive, but the classes are small - averaging 12 to 16 pupils per teacher. Hence the high cost per student of this level of training.
In the schools run by the National Directorate of Technical Education, shortage of money to pay basic expenditure sometimes leads to the abandonment of training in practical skills, due to the lack of training materials In the Labour Ministry's National Employment and Professional Training Institute (INEFP) there is a shortage of staff, which restricts the number of courses that can be offered.
COREP believes there are good reasons to "rationalise" the network of technical schools (i.e. close some of them down). It considers that a smaller number of well equipped schools, that can offer a high level of practical skills to the trainees, who could then find jobs on the labour market, would be a distinct improvement on a larger number of poorly equipped schools, that could not meet the requirements of employers.
PIREP was officially launched by President Armando Guebuza in September 2006. The forecast is that it will be implemented effectively as from 2009, when all the pre-conditions have been met - including the rehabilitation of the schools, the installation of new equipment, and the training of a sufficient number of teachers and school managers.
SOURCE: AIM
