Skills Required by Graduates of Technical Colleges for Self-Employment in Electrical Installation and Maintenance Works in Enugu State

ABSTRACT  

The study was carried out to determine the skills required by graduates of technical colleges for self-employment in electrical and maintenance works in Enugu State. Survey research design was adopted for the study.

The population for the study was 35 respondents comprises of teachers of electrical installation and maintenance work and workshop attendants. There was no sampling because of manageable size of the population.

A Structured questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument and 0.82 reliability coefficient value was obtained.

Four research questions and four null hypotheses were formulated for the study. Mean was used to analyze the data for answering research questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses of no significant difference at 0.05 level of significance.

The study found that 25 skills in domestic installation, 32 skills in industrial installation, 23 skills in cable jointing and 25 skills in winding of electrical machines required by graduates of technical colleges for self-employment in Enugu State.

There was no significant difference between the mean responses of electrical installation teachers and workshop assistants on the skills required by graduates of technical colleges for self-employment in domestic installation, industrial installation, cable jointing and winding of electrical machines.

The study recommended that the skills identified in this study should be packaged and used to retrain the graduates of electrical installation and maintenance work at skills acquisition centres.

It was also recommended that teachers of electrical installation and maintenance work in technical colleges should be retrained by government on the implementation of the skills identified for self-employment in domestic, industrial, cable joint and winding of electrical machines. 

INTRODUCTION  

Vocational is that aspect of the total education process that focuses on occupation. The function of vocational education is to provide knowledge, develop skills and inculcate the attitude that are necessary for entry into and progress in occupation.

Vocational education is a form of education obtainable at technical . It is equivalent to senior education but designed to prepare individuals to acquire practical skills.

Technical colleges are regarded as principal vocational institution in Nigeria. They give full training intended to prepare students for entry into various occupations (Okoro, 2006).

Technical college offer course in carpentry and joinery, cabinet making welding and fabrication, painting and decoration, electrical installation works, radio and television and electronics work.

Okoro (2006) observed that the formal education and training system are not sufficiently linked with the world of work, which makes it difficult for the graduates of the system,

particularly those who study electrical installation work to secure employment in areas related to their fields of study. Electrical installation work is one of the courses offered in technical college in Nigeria.

It comprises the following: Basic, electricity, battery charging, domestic installation, industrial installation, cable jointing and winding of electrical machines as it was contained in the curriculum of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE, 2001).

The goal of domestic installation is to provide the trainee with the knowledge and skill to enable him carryout electrical installation in a building. 

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StudentsandScholarship Team.