World Bank Satisfied With NIT’s Implementation Of the EASTRIP Project -

By Merystella Munis

Implementation of the project has been a big boost for the female students who are studying science and technology

THE World Bank has congratulated the National Institute of Transport (NIT) on the successful implementation of the Eastern Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) which is under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Speaking immediately after the EASTRIP project team visited the NIT Main Campus in Mabibo, Dar es Salaam to observe progression in the implementation of the project, Senior Education Specialist from the World Bank Mr Nkaiga Kaboko said:

“We have been impressed with the brave manner to which NIT has successfully managed to implement the EASTRIP project, the development which has significantly improved the teaching and learning environment.”

He added: “NIT has done great things in managing this project where we have seen that they have been able to increase the enrollment of female students from 10 percent when the project started to more than 26 percent now.”

He further expressed that implementation of the project has been a big boost for the female students who are studying science and technology at the facility.

“In the past, science subjects were called male subjects, but after this project, we now see these subjects attracting good number of girls.

He assured that the World Bank will continue to cooperate with the government in implementing more useful projects.

On his part, Dr. Prosper Mgaya, NIT Rector said: “Today we have been visited by the EASTRIP project team to see how we are implementing the project which is implemented with the support of the Government under the World Bank.

He said that this project which started with the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Aviation and Technology whereby it started providing training in aviation courses for lower levels including aircraft maintenance engineering courses and flight attendants.

On her part, Assistant Director of Technical Education from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Dr. Ethel Kasembe said that the EASTRIP Project aims at increasing admissions, the quality of vocational training, increasing the participation of female students in vocational programs, building partnerships between Vocational Education Institutions and the private sector and building regional partnerships.

The EASTRIP project’s impact in Tanzania goes beyond improving technical skills. It promotes regional integration by fostering collaboration between East African countries, sharing best practices, and enhancing the quality of education.

Funded by the World Bank, the robust project has emerged as a key symbol of regional integration and a model for technical education reform in East Africa.

The project, which aims to enhance access to high-quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in selected institutions, has seen Tanzania make remarkable strides through its participation.

Tanzania’s flagship institutions under the project include Arusha Technical College, the National Institute of Transport (NIT), and the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), along with its Mwanza campus.

According to the 2015 World Bank Enterprise Surveys, over 25 percent of the formal firms surveyed in Sub-Saharan Africa identify an inadequately educated workforce as a major constraint, and over 29 percent of all production workers are rated unskilled workers by these firms.

Shortage of specialized technical and vocational education and training (TVET) skills is particularly acute in transport, energy, manufacturing, including agro-processing, and ICT, and this could slow the industrialization agenda.

A careful mapping of skills needs assessment for the East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) sectors provides concrete statistics that show severe skills shortage.

Moreover, TVET institutions have no systematic approaches to engage industry to understand and translate market demands into curricula.

TVET is gaining momentum in the developing and developed world as a policy priority to increase labor productivity and enable economic transformation.

According to the 2018 World Bank’s world development report titled ‘Learning’, TVET can yield wages on par with equivalent levels of general education.

TVET can be a powerful engine of economic restructuring and transformation as amply demonstrated in the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and China, countries where TVET has been explicitly used as an instrument and channel for technology transfer and skills upgrading of workers.

TVET is also associated with promoting social inclusiveness and poverty alleviation as it tends to attract students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who have lower probabilities of reaching higher education.

The East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) brings a regional approach to developing the specialized TVET skills by creating a small cluster of regional TVET Centers of Excellence.

Each center will specialize in specific sectors and occupations with niche programs in highly specialized TVET diploma and degree programs, as well as industry recognized short-term courses.

Mobility of students, graduates, and faculty will facilitate a healthy exchange of skilled labor within the region so that each country does not have to produce all the skills at once.

The sharing of standards, curriculum, and training facilities will help reduce costs for each center. At the same time, demonstrations will help inform and guide the broader array of national TVET reforms in these countries.

The regional TVET Centers of Excellence can serve the labor needs of major regional infrastructure projects.