Hambeleleni Nguluve-Kandume
Every job needs some form of education about that particular profession. People who do not qualify for a particular job are given the training to gain the needed knowledge for that particular job.
The relationships between education and employment are determined not only by the function of education to prepare to learn for subsequent work tasks and other life domains, but also by the fact that education selects financial resources, and community acknowledgements are largely determined by the individuals’ level of educational achievement and their competencies gained during learning.
Education has a qualifying function and a status-distributive purpose for the economy and society, and it is one of the various factors determining graduates’ careers.
Defective links between education and employment are due to limits in the identification of job requirements, occupational dynamics and indeterminate work tasks of the highly qualified workforce, planning gaps, diverse curricular concepts and developing importance of lifelong education, where diverse value judgments come into action.
The public sector in Namibia values experiences more than education. Government promotions do not value the level of education in its employees – for example, a position with a requirement of a diploma is open to diploma applicants with given experiences, ignoring the highest qualification held by some applicants.
Recent research shows that employees believe that promotion is more a matter of personal connection than a reward for performance. Personal connections need to be discouraged in recruiting to motivate individuals who studied for the betterment of their lives.
It is recommended that the public sector should start valuing education more and opt for in-service training than valuing long service just to weigh knowledge and skills; this will give a good example to the private sector.
To accomplish economic balance among educated Namibians, graduates should also make use of self-employment, where graduates can have their businesses by virtue of their characteristics and educational skills.
Universities thus need to start preparing their students to be able to start up their businesses by teaching students to start new businesses to incorporate other rich learning experiences that are gained from an educational environment.
In conclusion, people with higher levels of education should have better job prospects; moreover, the difference should mainly be marked between those who have attained postgraduate education and those who have not.
*Hambeleleni Kandume is a Unam doctorate student. She serves as an accountant in the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism. The views expressed in this article are her own.