Effects of the deficit in school, university and professional guidance on the external effectiveness of the educational system in Togo

Abstract

Although educational and vocational guidance services are integral part of the school's mission to direct young students according to their individual vocations and capacities on one hand, and national needs on the other, it has been observed that in context of the new, more unstable and competitive labour market, young graduates are not always sufficiently prepared to meet the needs of the labour market. In higher education institutions, this reality seems more obvious, as young graduates are unable to establish a link between the training they received and the jobs on offer on the labour market. Economic difficulties and endemic poverty are well above the alert threshold in Togo. Gross domestic product per capita remains lower than in neighbouring countries. Togo is lagging behind in all production sectors, either primary, secondary or tertiary. The main purpose of the present research is to analyse the impact of the lack of school, university and vocational guidance on the informalisation and the disruption of the labour market in Togo. The primary and secondary data collected, using quantitative and qualitative methods, work together to show that the country is still lagging behind in its socio-economic take-off due to the underestimation of the school, university and professional guidance public service. Due to a lack of competent structures and human resources, school, university and vocational guidance is absent from the pathway guiding users of the education system towards training courses in line with national development needs.