Contribution of Skill Test in Employment among Short Term Vocational Training Graduates

Abstract

In the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector of Nepal, quality training and its role on employment has always been a controversial matter for many years (CTEVT, 2005). The National Skill Testing Board (NSTB) is a body that works autonomously for standardization and testing of skills to ensure a certification system in Nepal. Thus, national skill standardization, testing and certification have become an important function to enable skilled people to access better job opportunities. In this context, the research was designed to examine the contribution of vocational skills tests to the employment of graduates, particularly in pre-training, during-training and post-training employment stages. The research applied the post-positivism paradigm following the quantitative research approach where analysis and interpretation were conducted in reference to some theories (e.g. human capital formation, structure and agency and economic growth theory). The survey was done with 305 sample graduates, who received skills training from private training institutes and attended the level-one skill test of NSTB. ii The multistage random sampling method was applied using Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) formula with 95% confidence level. This study has explained significant relationship between skill tests and employment of vocationally skilled graduates. The overall contribution of skill tests toward employment was measured through, descriptive analysis of data using Mean, Median and Mode of graduates’ preferences rated in the 5-scale Likert scale. The result showed that most of the graduates agreed that there was the contribution of skill tests at all employment stages. Statistically, while measuring association of skill test contributions to all employment stages, it was found that overall changes due to skill tests at the pre-employment stage had further 35.5% contribution to the overall changes at the during-employment stage and 58.2% contribution to the overall changes due to skill tests at the post- employment stage. Similarly, overall changes due to skill tests at the during- employment stage had 38.5% contribution to the overall changes due to skill tests in post-employment stage. Finally, the segregation of the overall results showed that men and women were equally benefitted by skill tests for their employment. Youths from all age groups, all ethnic groups and all educational backgrounds were found to be equally benefitted from the skill tests. The contribution of skill tests significantly differed from the marital status and the geographical origin of the graduates, implying that married and unmarried youths were not equally benefitted by the skill tests. In conclusion, the skill testing system contributed to the employment of graduates specifically by creating employment opportunities (pre-employment stage), increasing work performance (during- employment stage) and further job prosperity (post employment).