Makerere University graduates stare unemployment in the face

Happiness seems to be turning into despair for the over 1,570 graduate teachers who received their degrees at Makerere University’s graduation on Tuiesday as the ministry of education said it will not consider employing them any time soon.

The Commissioner for Secondary Education in the Ministry of Education, Francis Agula says the ministry’s recruitment plan will priorities teachers who graduated some years back than these fresh graduates. He says some who graduated five years ago and have never got jobs.

This is despite recent announcements by the Minister of public service that the government will no longer consider experience as a key requirement for government jobs in order to give fresh graduates an equal chance at government employment opportunities.

But Agula says the issue is more of many graduands and less job opportunities than taking on the more experienced as Uganda continues to experience a real challenge in employing its educated.

More than 13,000 are graduating at Makerere in the 61^st graduation round that started Monday till Friday, but the government in 2010 had only an average 9,000 jobs for all graduates from the more than 10 universities to compete for.

The ministry of Public Service estimates that only 150,000 jobs annually are available for the more than 490,000 graduands annually, which raises the unemployment programme.

But President Museveni says the government is looking to outsource some jobs for young graduates, espcailly those with information technology skills, offer loans to those who can start their own businesses, and continue to attract more investments that will generate jobs for the graduates.

Ultimate Media