Enrol in TVET institutions, acquire skilled-labour to generate income, CS Ogamba tells youth
Said the country is looking for a technical team that can be relied upon in development and nation building.
By Dennis Dibondo
Enrol in Technical Vocational Education and Training(TVET) to be self-employed and boost country’s economic, youths have been told.
Education Cabinet Secretary(CS) Julius Migosi Ogamba said skilled labour and self-employment play a key role in generating income among Kenyans.
“Youths should therefore consider joining TVET programs to pursue and achieve their market-driven skills,” Ogamba said.
He spoke at Meru National Polytechnic, where he met principals of various TVET institutions Friday.
“Student who are skilled in whatever field including mechanical hospitality, mechanical, plumbing need to be certified so that they have standards that are harmonized with the job market," he said
Ogamba said currently, the country is looking for a technical team that can be relied upon in development and nation building.
He noted that overtime skills that were available in the country were not formally recognized.
“We are trying to come up with a policy that recognizes them so that the industry knows that they are trained and are ready for the job they are demanded to do" CS said.
He said as a ministry, they are marketing skilled personnel from TVET institutions across the world. "We have partnered with European countries to harmonize a universal curriculum to ensure those trained in the country can not be retrained" Ogamba said.
The CS said they have also expanded to include Mandarin, Germany, and many others so that those who get jobs outside can have an easy time.
Education CS Julius Ogamba cutting TVET celebration cake at Meru National Polytechnic Friday. Photo/ Dennis Dibondo
He said they will rationalize the budget so that it corresponds to the number of students they are getting at TVET learning institutions to make sure they accommodate students according to their capability.
Ogamba said that they currently have 500,000 in the public TVET institutions, and the sector can accommodate up to 2.5 million students.
About 16,000 classrooms for Competency-Based Curriculum(CBC) grade nine, he said they have received funding from the World Bank to do 12,000, and about 68 percent of the classrooms are ready.
He said the remaining 4000 will be done by the National Government Constituency Development Fund(NG-CDF).
"They will work with the ministry of education to avoid duplication, and they will be complete by December this year,” Ogamba said.
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