By Johnson Mbaziira,

Last week, Makerere University graduated a total of 1,570 teachers, but the ministry of Education says there is no money to employ all of them.

This means that they will join a growing army of qualified Ugandans who cannot find jobs. A solution for these teachers lies with us. One may ask why Ugandans with good English speaking skills cannot exploit the lucrative English teaching industry in Asia.

Currently, over 10,000 English teachers are being recruited in Asia on a monthly basis. According to available statistics, the demand for English teachers outweighs the supply in China alone.

Why don’t these graduates from Uganda take up English teaching jobs in Asia and why doesn’t the government intervene to support such an initiative since it cannot provide jobs for the graduates?

All that is needed for one to be recruited as an international English teacher is a university degree or diploma plus an international English teaching certification.

Last week, I was in China and I was surprised to discover that other English speaking African nations like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia and Kenya are sending in their graduates to teach English in China.

I found out that most of them earn between $700 and $1,200 per month, plus benefits.  China alone needs 4,000 English teachers on a monthly basis.

Let us borrow a leaf from Kenya; our neighbours have already embarked on training their university graduates in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). About 75% have found jobs in over 15 Asian countries. This is the reason why you will find a Kenyan teaching English in a language institute in China.

Makindye, Kampala