- TVET institutions should measure success by trainees’ ability to secure livelihoods rather than enrolment and graduation numbers.
- PS Esther Muoria says colleges must deliberately align training programmes with changing labour market and industry needs.
- She has also challenged institutions to turn workshops into centres of production, innovation and income generation.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions have been urged to go beyond student enrolment and graduation and focus on equipping trainees with industry-relevant skills that can help them earn a livelihood, Principal Secretary for TVET Dr Esther Thaara Muoria has said.
Dr Muoria said colleges need to deliberately align their training programmes with labour market demands by first identifying what industries require and then preparing young people with the appropriate skills.
“We cannot continue doing things the same way we have done for a long time and expect different results. The government is insisting that we must be intentional in what we are doing,” she said.
Speaking during the first graduation ceremony at Kaelo Technical and Vocational College in Laare, Meru County, the PS said institutions should move away from measuring success merely by the number of graduates they produce and instead focus on meaningful outcomes for trainees.
“It is not a question of having young people coming to school, staying for some months, and getting out. We have to train young people with intention. A training programme must have a clear destination,” Dr Muoria said.
Workshops should solve problems
She called on TVET principals to fully utilise equipment available in their workshops, both to strengthen practical training for learners and create opportunities for institutions to generate revenue.
Dr Muoria pointed to the manufacture of products such as hinges and stays for possible supply to the affordable housing programme as an example of how TVET workshops can serve as centres of production, innovation and enterprise.
“I challenge Kaelo TVC, therefore, to make optimal use of the equipment they have to benefit learners and make money out of it. Workshops should be solving problems,” she said.
The PS reaffirmed the government’s commitment to improving equipment in TVET institutions, saying additional equipment valued at Sh13 billion was being provided to colleges across the country.
She further urged institutions to undertake research that addresses practical challenges and develops solutions from locally available resources, citing sisal as a material that could potentially be used to produce hair extensions.
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“Get a real problem to solve, research it, and get a solution. We want an outcome and not an output in terms of our trainees leaving training institutions. Where are we graduating them to go?” she posed.
By Joseph Mambili
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