By ADAM IHUCHA--
The East African Community would spend $210,000 to
procure a bulk of questions in Europe for the envisaged regional common civil
aviation examination.
If all goes well, the EAC plans to introduce a common
examination system for aviation experts, the first of its kind in Africa, in
the second quarter of 2014.
The move is expected to culminate in a common
licensing system and then a mutual recognition of qualifications for experts in
the EA aviation industry.
Idea is to encourage free movement of the aviation
personnel across the region, a courtesy of the EAC common market protocol,
which came into force in July 2010.
The EAC Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight
Agency (CASSOA), executive director, Barry Kashambo said that to start with,
his agency would procure 10,000 questions out of 30,000 required.
He said the questions would enable provision of common
examination to aviation professionals including pilots, maintenance engineers,
air traffic controllers, flight engineers, and operations officers.
“The EAC will be the first regional economic community
in Africa to establish such system, “ Mr Kashambo explained.
When fully developed, the system would surpass the
system used in Europe in terms of scope, diversity of exams provided, and the
interface to other working tools currently used to facilitate issuance of
licenses and certificates.
The online common EAC examination system procured from
LPLUS GmbH of Germany under RISP funding, an independent system that supports
the ideals of the common market protocol, and a transparent harmonized
personnel-licensing system that eases license validation.
“Uploading of questions is in progress and all efforts
are being taken to operationalize the system in the end of 2rd
quarter of this year” Mr Kashambo said.
CASSOA’s ability to monitor the partner states
examinations oversight role will also be strengthened.
Currently the examination question banks in Partner
States are under populated with old questions and in some cases invalidated
banks, while some partner states lack examination question banks altogether.
Once operational the EAC region will enjoy the fruits
of integration with provision of professional high standard examinations to the
aviation industry.
CASSOA is to host the examination system and the
Partner States- -particularly Kenya which currently has an operational system--
will provide the bulk of the examination questions to populate the exam bank.
To address the challenge of procuring examination
question each year – on average of 16 euro per question or $21 -- local
capacity to develop an adequately populated question bank would be built.
“The establishment of a common EAC Aviation system
marks positive achievement and yet another milestone in EAC CASSOA pioneering
the revolution and harmonization of aviation systems in Africa and beyond” he
explained.
Captain Phillemon Kisamo, a renowned Tanzanian pilot says
that the EA regional common examination would leverage the shortage of aviation
personnel across the region.
Capt. Kisamo further lauded the move arguing that it will create a wider market for aviation gurus who would be free to work in any of the EAC partner states.
“Tanzania for instance faces a serious inadequacy of aviation workers, so this move will definitely leverage the shortage in the country by tapping for personnel from other member countries,” he explained.
Analysts say the EAC faces a looming shortage of skilled manpower in the aviation sector and, if deliberate efforts are not taken, this could adversely hamper the industry.
After the establishment of the first EAC, the importance of civil aviation was noted, prompting the establishment of Soroti Flying School in Uganda.
Records show that the school was involved in training both pilots and aircraft engineers earmarked to develop the industry in the region.
According to available data the partner states mainly Tanzania financed the institution to a very large extent.
“A majority of the pilots and aircraft engineers we see today are a product of this college,” Capt. Kisamo explains.
During the collapse of the first East African Community in 1977, the institution also collapsed, compelling governments to send pilots and engineers for training to various places around the globe, but there wasn’t a long-term plan that existed during the existence of Soroti Flying School.
As aviation grew, the need for adequate number of qualified human resource also grew, but without a sustainable supply, he noted.
The flying that produced most of the pilots in the region is located in Soroti, Soroti District, Teso sub-region, in Eastern Uganda; it was established in 1971 with the aim of training pilots and aircraft engineers for the East African market.
Appraisals for training programmes were done and equipment provided through the assistance of the UNDP International Civil Aviation Organization (UNDP-ICAO).
This saw the institution get linked to others outside East Africa, developing into a center of excellence recognized by education regulators all over the world.
Capt. Kisamo further lauded the move arguing that it will create a wider market for aviation gurus who would be free to work in any of the EAC partner states.
“Tanzania for instance faces a serious inadequacy of aviation workers, so this move will definitely leverage the shortage in the country by tapping for personnel from other member countries,” he explained.
Analysts say the EAC faces a looming shortage of skilled manpower in the aviation sector and, if deliberate efforts are not taken, this could adversely hamper the industry.
After the establishment of the first EAC, the importance of civil aviation was noted, prompting the establishment of Soroti Flying School in Uganda.
Records show that the school was involved in training both pilots and aircraft engineers earmarked to develop the industry in the region.
According to available data the partner states mainly Tanzania financed the institution to a very large extent.
“A majority of the pilots and aircraft engineers we see today are a product of this college,” Capt. Kisamo explains.
During the collapse of the first East African Community in 1977, the institution also collapsed, compelling governments to send pilots and engineers for training to various places around the globe, but there wasn’t a long-term plan that existed during the existence of Soroti Flying School.
As aviation grew, the need for adequate number of qualified human resource also grew, but without a sustainable supply, he noted.
The flying that produced most of the pilots in the region is located in Soroti, Soroti District, Teso sub-region, in Eastern Uganda; it was established in 1971 with the aim of training pilots and aircraft engineers for the East African market.
Appraisals for training programmes were done and equipment provided through the assistance of the UNDP International Civil Aviation Organization (UNDP-ICAO).
This saw the institution get linked to others outside East Africa, developing into a center of excellence recognized by education regulators all over the world.
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