Factors Affecting Employment of South Sudan Technical Vocational Education and Training Graduates: A Case study of Building and Construction Industry in Juba County.
Abstract
The study is about factors affecting employment of South Sudanese civil engineer graduates by the Building and Construction Industry in Juba County. The study sought to establish why South
Sudanese civil engineer graduates are not employed by the Building and Construction Industry employers, establish why South Sudanese civil engineer graduates are failing to create their own employment in the Building and Construction Industry, investigate why the Building and
Construction Industry of South Sudan employs foreign civil engineers and suggest possible solutions to the factors affecting the employment of South Sudanese civil engineer graduates by
Building and Construction Industry. The Study was exploratory and descriptive in nature. Data was obtained from Directors for Technical Vocational Education and Training in the Ministry of
Labour and Public Service, Ministry of General Education and Instruction, Education Committee
Republic of South Sudan Legislative Assembly, Building and Construction Industry Employers,
Unemployed South Sudanese Civil Engineer Graduates, Employed Foreign Civil Engineer graduates, Principals and Instructors Technical Vocational Education and Training Centers. The respondents of the study were purposively sampled. In all, a total forty four (44) respondents participated in the study. Interview, observation, and documentary analysis methods were employed for data collection and data was qualitatively analyzed. The study found that South Sudanese civil engineer graduates were unemployed by the Building and Construction Industry due to Poor training and inadequate experience in handling the modern tools. Another finding was that, Sudanese civil engineer could not create their own jobs because of inadequate skills and experience to create their own jobs in the Building and Construction Industry. Findings further showed that foreign civil engineer graduates were employed by the Building and Construction Industry because been experienced, cheap to hire and serous in seeking for jobs in the Building and Construction Industry. In view of the above findings, the researcher recommended that, the government of the Republic of South Sudan should increase the budget for vocational education and training from 5% to 20% of its annual budget, vocational basic skills should be taught right from primary school up to the secondary schools, qualified teaching staff and a good learning environment that includes provision of adequate tools and materials must be taken care of by the government in the planning and execution of policies on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in South Sudan.