Since our educational system
keeps churning out graduates yearly who obviously do not have the requisite
skills to get absorbed into the main stream of their chosen professions (or
vocations), I believe it is high time we rethink the attitude to the age long
idea of volunteering and apprenticeship.
In Nigeria of today, it’s almost
impossible to employ a fresh graduate and find any direct input or value they
bring to the organization. There is always the need to train and induct them to
the workings of the organization to kick start their career and this ultimately
results in some sort of downtime on productivity as time that should be spent
working is spent holding their hands and guiding them.
Inculcating the values of
volunteering and apprenticeship definitely would not be an easy task
considering the impatience for fast money as currently demonstrated in our
youths. However, all hope is not lost as I believe if government and NGOs can
drive the initiative and highlight the benefits, we will achieve a lot.
There is also the need to reorganize the SIWES
program as currently constituted. SIWES should actually be the first work
experience an undergraduate has and if more checks and incentives are
introduced, it could be a launch pad for promising undergraduates who would be
headhunted by organizations they observed their SIWES with.
Another very important issue is
in the event we have youths ready to volunteer or undergo apprenticeship but
with a dearth of organizations willing to accept them, what happens then?
Should there be incentives for
organizations who accept volunteers?
I seriously believe there is a
need to sensitize our organizations on the need to accept these youths and
mentor them, firstly as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and
two as a means of getting the best hands.