The Director of TVET Meshack Opwora, called for standardization of equipment used for training in all TVET institutions. While addressing a meeting at Meru National Polytechnic, Opwora indicated that great differences existed in quality of education between the institutions under national and county governments, based on disparities in equipment and staffing levels.
Sub-county trainers in VCTs, according to Opwora, are few compared to those in the institutions under the national government. This shortage, combined with inadequate equipment, compromises the quality of education offered.
“We have seen disparities in terms of the quality in the training done in institutions under the national government, compared to the institutions under county governments,” Opwora noted. “The state-of-the-art equipment in national institutions contrasts sharply with challenges faced by institutions under county governments.”
To fix these, Opwora announced the procurement of modern equipment for 70 technical vocational colleges across the country. This was through their collaborations with the Africa Development Bank and the East Africa Skills for Transformation Project, an initiative of the World Bank.
“We are at the tail end of procuring them in China, and they will arrive by the end of the year,” said Opwora.
The quality audit was rolled out across all TVET institutions and vocational training centers under county governments. According to the TVET Board Chair of the Technical Committee, Julius Keter, the preliminary findings on the leadership standards in these institutions are promising.
“The report indicates that the majority of the institutions are performing well in terms of standards of leadership, adhering to the set guidelines,” said Keter. “We had set the standards to regulate the TVET and are auditing institutions in line with that. Improvement is quite notable.”
Keter called for the inclusion of idle youths in TVET training to enable the country to overcome poverty. “About three to four million unemployed youths must be absorbed into TVET to curb unemployment and drive the economy forward, “he noted.
According to Dr. Paul Wanyeki, the Acting Director of TVET in charge of standards development, 415 TVET institutions were audited in the past financial year. It is called for rebranding to improve the image of vocational training centers and hence more attraction of youth.
“Most of the institutions do not have a good image, hence diminishing attractiveness among potential students,” said Wanyeki. “There is a need for rebranding institutions to make them more attractive”.
Challenges facing private institutions include non-placement by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service. Embracing the CBET curriculum has challenges in level five national government institutions.
According to Nakuru County Director of Vocational Training David Mwangi, there is a need for funding of the same from the national government. Some counties, he argued, are unable to adequately fund some of those centers, hence affecting access to vocational training by poor students, leading to unemployment.
“Conditional grants should be reinstated to ensure sufficient funding to VTCS,” urged Mwangi.