Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is coming into force as the government pledges to give certificates to people with technical skills, their education backgrounds notwithstanding.
Principal Secretary (PS) for Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Dr Esther Muoria said the move will help the artisans get jobs in government or private institutions, irrespective of their academic achievements.
Dr Muoria observed that the government policy is now geared towards promoting artisan jobs where thousands of young people have opportunities to make their livelihoods through the bottom-up approach.
“We have so many skilled youth across the country who diligently and efficiently perform skilled work and they have no credentials. We will issue them with certificates so that they can even benefit from the government’s skilled labour exportation programme,” the PS said.
The PS, accompanied by Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a, spoke during a graduation ceremony of over 3,000 trainees at the Thika Technical Training Institute (TTI).
At the same time, Dr Muoria said the government will build a new technical training college in Thika so as to create more opportunities for artisan jobs.
This, she added, will ease congestion at the facility which currently has a population of more than 16,000 students.
“There’s need to put up a new TVET institution in Thika so that the thousands of youth seeking technical training can get an opportunity to access it and we will work together with all relevant authorities and stakeholders to ensure that the project kicks off in earnest,” she said.
The PS added that the government is also linking Kenyan skilled and manual workers to employers in the global labour market.
“There will also be linkages between trainees and industry. Skilled workers are one of the key enablers of our economic growth and country’s transformation,” she said.
Ng’ang’a said she has relentlessly pursued the establishment of a new college to be known as Makongeni Technical Institute and hailed the PS for the support.
Early last year, the MP had revealed plans to put up a Ksh2 billion technical training college at Kilimambogo that was to be fully funded by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
She had said the institution would be established on a 100-acre piece of land that was ceded by the multinational fruit juice maker, Del Monte Kenya Limited.
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