Design courses relevant to labour market, TVET colleges told

By John Majau

Technical and Vocational Education and Training Principal Secretary Dr Esther Muoria has called on TVET institutions to design demand-driven programmes that shall bridge identified skill gaps in the ever changing labour market.

Speaking at Karumo Technical Training Institute (TTI) during their inaugural graduation ceremony, the PS said TVET institutions have become critical in achieving rapid economic, social, and technological growth globally.

“The reason behind this is that human resources require greater skills to participate in the knowledge economy. Hence, we being responsible for TVET institutions are expected to offer demand-driven programmes to supply properly skilled human capital for the dynamic industry requirements,” said Dr Muoria.

She urged all form four leavers to register for available courses and acquire skills at TVET institutions as they pursue their dream careers.

A section of graduands during the inaugural graduation ceremony.

The PS said plans have been put in place to start rolling out the Competence Based Education and Training (CBET), where training will be industry-based on a 50-50 basis, since the industry players have become an integral part of the whole.

She appealed to the Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutions (KATTI) family to re-organize TVET training to Competence Based Skilling (CBS) and identify international institutions to collaborate with in offering the courses.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are all too aware that TVET graduates enter into a globally competitive labour market and for this reason, I urge all technical institutions to benchmark, collaborate and partner with other top institutions in the world. Such collaborations will result in internationally recognized programmes relevant to both local and the international labour markets,” she said.

Through such collaborations, she added, TVET trainees will upon graduation obtain dual certifications and would have a competitive advantage to seek employment globally.

She called on all stakeholders to encourage young people to join TVETs not because they have nothing else to do but because they can succeed in what they will focus on.

The institution’s Principal Ms. Florah Kanyua said they were in the process of being ISO 27000:2013 certified to improve on the processes and enhance customer satisfaction hence sustainable development.

“We are proud that today we are churning out 889 trainees who will impact our region and country at large in terms of development,” said Ms. Kanyua.