ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN TECHNICAL, VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET): IMPERATIVE FOR JOB CREATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Youths unemployment is among the social problems causing the human security challenges and National developmental set-back confronting Nigeria. The root cause of Youth unemployment is traced to lack of relevant entrepreneurial skills needed for self employment. This has resulted in the agitation for entrepreneurship education in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET). TVET is a panacea to Youth unemployment challenges because it plays a significant role in the training of potential entrepreneurs. The focus of this paper therefore is to elucidate on how effective implementation of entrepreneurship education in TVET can enhance the acquisition of entrepreneurial competencies for job creation and National development. In the course of doing this, the paper discussed the role of TVET in job creation and National development. It explained the concept of Entrepreneurship education. It also discussed the benefits of Entrepreneurship to TVET. Some major constraints to effective implementation of Entrepreneurship education in TVET were outlined which included poor funding, inadequate teaching facilities and students’ lackadaisical attitude towards manual skill acquisition. The paper concluded that the acquisition of relevant occupational skills by youths through complementing academic education with practical entrepreneurship education will engender job creation and National development. Consequently, it proffered some ways of enhancing effective implementation of Entrepreneurship education in TVET.