Recently, the federal government lay off large number of employees. These have been the case in many countries, in many establishments (government and private owned) since the incident of the global meltdown. Following this layoff, many are now taking the choice of entrepreneurship and are opting in for vocational schools.
Nigeria is a country with over 170 million population of which higher percentage of it is unemployed. Irrespective of this fact many are still fired from their jobs on daily basis. Due to this trends it has now dawn on many that there is no financial security in employment ( if you are lucky to get employed) besides how long will you search for job when you can create jobs for yourself and others.
This among other reasons has increased the need of vocational schools in Nigeria.
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Vocation is simply an occupation to which to which on is specially drawn, suited, trained and qualified for. Vocational school on the other hand refers to institution of learning where students acquire special skills in other to start up a business of their own.
There is thousands of vocational school around the world which offers training of different business skills, many are government established, some are attached to non-profit/ charity organization.
However, some are private owned and are there to make money. Considering the present demand for vocational skills in Nigeria and your ambition to start up a vocational school below is a step by step guide that will help you start up successfully.
- Have a reason-
Before jumping into starting a vocational or skill acquisition center, have a reason, a driving force. Ask yourself some questions such as why do I want to start? What do I have to gain? Be sincere when answering this questions. Do you want to start a vocational school just to make profit? Or do you want to save lives through imbibing vocational knowledge to Nigerians?
- Conduct research-
The next step to this business Is to do your homework. Conduct research- its indispensible, it helps you know more about the business and also help you make the decision if you really want to start. You can also attended a vocational school yourself to get the inner view of the business, learn about the challenges, how it is being run, how to teach, who to teach, and why is vocational school setup in the first place.
- Draw a business plan
Step two above would have helped you decide if really you have what it takes to start a skill acquisition center, if yes then draw a comprehensive plan which will help bring the whole business to a better concise understanding. Business plans should entail, information about you and your partners, number of needed employers and their posts, location, cost of startup, desk and lab equipment needed, phone lines, advertisement budget etc.
- Registration/ licensing-
Vocational training institute is one that requires registration of business name through commissioned government regulatory body (C.A.C, in the case of Nigeria) and licensing to operate. Without these steps your business is considered illegitimate and stands the chance of shutdown just like any other illegal school.
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Get a good location-
This is a crucial step towards success of this business. The site or location of your vocational school determines the type and number of student to attend. Get a structured location near cities and major road. Your vocational school structure should also be big and conducive for its purpose, properly furnished for confortability of student and to contain the number of skill acquisition classes you have decided to offer.
- Draw a program curriculum-
It’s not just enough to have a general plan in this business; there is need for a good program curriculum which will detail for every activity for every hour, everyday and every week –
-The subject to teach
- Learning objective
- Mode of teaching ( practical or theoretical)
- required learning material
- How students are to be assed
- Split between lecture and lab time
- Best order to teach all the topic etc
Program curriculum should have the answers to this and more in full details.
- Commence training-
Haven achieved success in all the above steps; you may commence training of students for different skills. Start registration into different programs as dictated by your program curriculum.
- Advertisement and marketing-
Haven commenced training, it’s time we get the word out about our first class vocational school, its time the masses know about your newly established vocational school. Advertisement draws more students.
Conclusively, quality matters ensure quality and expertise of every student enabling them start up after successful training. This helps advertise your business more effectively than a billion dollar advertisement budget.