The Government plans to increase the population of students enrolled at Technical and Vocational Education Training institutions from the current 550,000 to 2 million.
The Principal Secretary, State Department of Technical and Vocational Education Training, Dr. Esther Muoria, while speaking during the graduation ceremony at Kaiboi National Polytechnic in Mosop Constituency, said that the number would be achieved before the end of the year.
The PS emphasised that the government is already partnering with the relevant stakeholders to ensure there is the creation of more space in the TVET institutions that would enable them to accommodate the anticipated influx of students.
“We are working very closely, mostly with people from the political class and they will assist us with the mobilisation of our young people and their transitioning to the institutions,” she said.
Muoria was glad that more youth were discovering the need for acquiring skills in TVET institutions, which has enabled some of them to get local and international jobs.
The PS, however, spoke of the government’s plan to shorten the training period of students in order to create space for students more rapidly.
“I spoke to the President and he was asking me why we are keeping these young people in an institution for a whole 2 years, so let them come for three months, six months and we will be able to give them a skill and after that, if they still feel they need to come back, our doors will still be open,” she remarked.
The PS also reiterated the need to keep the names of graduates of each year in a secure manner so as to ward off fraudsters who may try to fake their academic qualifications.
“I advise the principals to have a booklet that will list all those who are graduating and put it in a very secure place because we have had people coming with academic papers claiming they are qualified and that they graduated, so the booklet will help to weed out such people,” she said.
Nandi Governor Stephen Sang, who was also present at the ceremony, supported the move to shorten the period of the courses, saying it would strengthen the idea of admitting more students.
“It will shorten the time, lessen the burden of paying school fees by parents and give opportunities to the graduates into the market, ” noted Governor Sang.
He also called for an infrastructural upgrade of Kaiboi National Polytechnic so that it may match the national status that it was recently given.
“The elevation of this institution into a national polytechnic is not an end in itself but a journey; the institution requires infrastructural upgrades, support and expansion so that we may be able to meet the status of a National Polytechnic, so that we may serve more young men and women who want to gain skills,” he remarked.
Kaiboi Principal Abdi Tiony said the institution has embraced Competence Based Education Training in all its courses and that students were acquiring relevant skills needed for both local and international markets.
By Geoffrey Satia and Daniel Ochieng
