- The Director of Vocation Training, Nancy Gathigia, announced the launch of the initiative that integrates childcare centres into technical colleges to help young mothers continue their studies
- The Institutions that now operate integrated childcare programs are Mtongwe Technical College and Kisauni Technical College.
- The county plans to expand the model, but future launch will depend on local funding rather than national financing.
Childcare services have now started to be used by Authorities in Mombasa County to minimise school dropout rates among young mothers enrolled in TVET programs.
In a career guidance symposium, the Director of Vocation Training, Nancy Gathigia, announced the launch of an initiative that integrates childcare centres into technical colleges to help young mothers continue their studies, according to information reported by local news outlets
The Department of Education organised the event at Tononoka Social Hall with support from Colleges and Institutes Canada and Akili Dada. The symposium encouraged young women to pursue technical education while offering practical support to mothers already enrolled in this program.
The Institutions that now operate integrated childcare programs are Mtongwe Technical College and Kisauni Technical College. Gathigia assured additional institutions will adopt the model. “Motherhood should not hinder education and skills acquisition,” she said.
The program does not seek to increase initial enrollment in technical education. Instead, it aims to ensure that women already enrolled can continue their training after giving birth. The need for the initiative extends beyond the two pilot institutions.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) report in its 2026 Economic Survey, early pregnancies continue to increase, particularly among girls aged 10 to 14. The same report recorded significant attrition during the transition to secondary education. Student enrollment fell from 1,315,400 pupils in Grade 6 to 1,287,500 in Grade 7 in 2023. More than 27,900 students did not make the transition. The Kenya National Commission for UNESCO identified pregnancy and motherhood as among the documented causes of these school dropouts.
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Against this backdrop, the two childcare centres represent a limited intervention. However, they also serve as a pilot model that other institutions could replicate. Mombasa’s initiative remains separate from Kenya’s flagship program supporting women’s technical education, the Kenya Blue Economy Skills Training Program. Global Affairs Canada finances the program through Colleges and Institutes Canada.
The program has covered 24 technical institutions since 2022 and aims to benefit more than 5,000 women directly. The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) has said that 50 certified training courses should begin under the program in January 2026.
This program will immensely help nearly stressed young mothers to be calm and stress-free, knowing that their children are taken good care of. This will also help their own studies to run very smoothly.
Mombasa County will rely exclusively on its own budget to expand the program as the childcare centres do not form part of the national initiative.
By Bernard Magada
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