In a momentous event that marked the culmination of years of dedication and unwavering determination, Meru National Polytechnic on Friday July 5 hosted its fifth graduation ceremony.
In an event that was presided over Technical and Vocational and Education Training Principal Secretary (PS) Dr Esther Thaara, some 5,054 graduands were awarded certificates in various programmes.
In her speech, the PS directed all technical institutions in the country to link up with industries to produce fully skilled graduands saying that this was the only way to ensure that the training done to the learners is industry focused.
“We want to ensure we allow trainees to graduate when we know where they are going because it is not enough to just train them but it is important that we know where they are going after training,” said Dr Thaara.
She said the Ministry of Education is also ensuring the dual TVET is fully implemented where 50 per cent of the learners’ time will be spent in industry.
“This is because the Kenya Kwanza Government wants to ensure that we do an end-to-end job which means that we train our graduands with an end in mind,” said Dr Thaara.
She added: “I want to be very grateful to GIZ from Germany. As a state department, we have decided that we are going to go by the German training model because Germany got to where they are because of imparting their youth with absolute skills.”
The state department, she added, has ensured that the implementation of Curriculum Based Education Training (CBET) curriculum takes root into our institutions where trainees will be instilled with necessary skills that ensure that they thrive in the economy.
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Meru National Polytechnic Chief Principal Mutembei Kigige lauded the graduands as well as the parents, sponsors and guardians for the immense support throughout the learning of trainees.
He said as they celebrate TVET at 100 years, they can also proudly say that the polytechnic is the home of research and innovations.
“We have deliberately supported our trainees, sponsored, and identified talents in solving societal problems hence this year alone we have come up with many innovations like solar green preservative machines, manufacture of Novel organic fertilizer, automated train, Transformer vandalism protector,” said Mr Kigige.
“We are happy the government as well as other players have come up to help in absorbing them for further training,” said Kigige.
He said the 100th anniversary of TVET institutions marks a century of transforming lives, empowering communities, and driving economic development through skill-based education.
“Our institution has recently been accredited as a qualification awarding institution, authorised to create curriculum, impart knowledge and conduct assessments.
This prestigious status is a testament to our unwavering commitment to academic excellence and innovation in technical and vocational education and training,” said Kigige.
By John Majau
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