More than 50 pct of Tanzanian youth are undereducated - ILO

More than half (58.5 per cent) of Tanzanian youth are undereducated and 7.1 per cent of all youth have no education at all, a recent research by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has revealed.

Presenting research findings titled ‘Labour market
transition of young women and men in the United Republic of Tanzania’ yesterday in Dar es Salaam International Labour Organisation (ILO) Chief Technical Officer, Sara Elder said another 11.1 per cent of the youth work in elementary occupations classified as undereducated. “With a substantial share of youth completing their education at the primary school (38.2 per cent) level and secondary school (44.8 per cent), it is not surprising to find more Tanzanian youth classified as undereducated,” she said citing a mere 8.6 per cent of the youth in Tanzania are considered overeducated.

“Under education has a negative impact on the productivity of the worker as well as on their level of their confidence and well being,” she noted. “One way to address the challenge is to make sure that such workers have the necessary skills to best perform available jobs,” she advised urging for what she termed as job training, training workers on the job to help them better perform.

She therefore called on the government to ensure that job training is offered to help the youth become competent.

United Nation Development Assistance Plan Coordinator, Country Office, Annamarie Kiaga, said that currently, ILO in collaboration with the government are working to establish an active labour market policy to ensure that youth get employed.