12 schools attended Career Guidance Fair at MCA Malawi
This year, Music Crossroads Academy Malawi joined forces with Organization for Career Guidance, and invited 12 secondary schools to the Academy for a Career Guidance Fair under the theme “Career Guidance – A Crisis among the Youth”.
The fair took place at the Academy in Lilongwe on May, aiming to encourage participants to seek higher education, make informed career decisions and follow creative and technical career paths.
In Malawi, the youth unemployment rate is high, and a large part of the employed youth are working in the informal sector. Securing a formal job is difficult, and many young people struggle to make decisions about their future careers. Through live music, poetry and presentations, the participating students at the fair were shown different ways of using their potentials, skills and abilities as creative entrepreneurs and in technical jobs.
Musicians, teachers and students took part, experiencing presentations from organisations like Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TEVETA) and Forum for African Women Educationalist Malawi (FAWEMA), as well as freelance artists. Music Crossroads Academy had also invited Elson Kambalu, a visual artist, cultural entrepreneur at Art House Africa, and manager of former MCA student Jaco Jana (now a performing musician), to present on how to become a successful music artist.
The director of MCA Malawi, Gayighayi Mathews Mfune was excited to see the engagement among the participants. A lot of the students were unaware of the career opportunities in the music and arts sector, he noted.
“Having learned that music can be a career worth pursuing and a lucrative business venture, it was pleasing to see some of the participants asking for more information and the requirements to enrol at the Academy”, he said.
The executive director for the Organisation for Career Guidance, Brian Chidampamba Katimba, also expressed his contentment
“A lot of youth with unclear career decisions end up being frustrated with the current high unemployment rates, instead of exploring alternative career paths,” urging the participants to get creative with their talents when choosing their future careers.
The event attracted attention of both print and broadcasting media, by CAN TV, local radio and national paper The Nation.
