Kenya will play host to global leaders in technical, vocational education and training (TVET) during the 6th Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering, and Technology (PASET) Forum and RSiF Annual Conference scheduled in Nairobi from Tuesday, April 23rd to 25th.
Extending an invitation while welcoming the expected delegation to the conference, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said the theme of the conference is leveraging on TVET in the knowledge and skills ecosystem for Africa’s industrialization.
He reiterated that the conference will provide an opportunity to engage and interact with Africa Member States of PASET, exchanging knowledge and ideas on how to take forward the important and strategic TVET sector to enable the realisation of industrialization the continent requires.
“Welcome ministers and distinguished guests from Africa and around the world, particularly the 12 member states of PASET, to the 6th PASET Forum and RSiF Annual Conference, which will officially be opened by His Excellency Dr. William Samoei Ruto, C.G.H., President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces,” said CS Machogu.
PASET is a sub-Saharan Africa programme with the objective of strengthening science, technology, and engineering capabilities for the socio-economic transformation of the member countries through post-doctoral training and skilling the youth in the technical vocational education and training sector.
The CS observed that the greatest challenge to industrialization is the absence of qualified and competent technical human resources, adding that a technically skilled workforce is a pre-requisite for sustained industrialization.
Machogu emphasised that the path to industrialization followed by many countries, including Brazil, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and China, and the role played by TVET have been well documented, and Africa can learn from the experiences of these countries.
“The 6th PASET Forum will therefore seek to position TVET within the knowledge and skills ecosystem and espouse the critical role it can play in the industrialization of Africa. The emphasis will be on postsecondary or tertiary-level TVET in the continuum of skills development and in line with the mandate of PASET,” said the Education CS.
Participants will be drawn from African TVET institutions, universities, industry, ministries of education and training, as well as finance and economic planning, regulatory bodies, and innovation hubs. TVET experts from PASET partner countries such as Korea, China, India, and Brazil would also be invited to participate as speakers or resource persons. The EASTRIP project would also be invited to share information on their TVET Centres of Excellence. Other participants would include World Bank officials, the PASET Secretariat, the Executive Board, and the Consultative Advisory Group.
Postsecondary TVET is one of the strategic pillars of the PASET initiative. According to UNESCO, TVET refers to “aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences as well as the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding, and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economics and social life.
TVET contributes to the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) and SDG8 for decent work and economic growth. The important role that TVET plays in the acquisition of employment-oriented skills for sustainable livelihoods and national economic growth has been documented in several publications by UNESCO and the African Union, among others.
By Joseph Kamolo Mutua
