Technical colleges praise state interventions

Efforts by the Government to shore up the technical workforce through revival of technical colleges are paying off, college principals have said.

Speaking during a Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutes (KATTI) workshop in Kisumu on Tuesday, the administrators said concerted efforts to popularise technical and vocational training and education had resulted in growth of student numbers.

KATTI chairperson Glory Mutungi said enrollment was registering a steady increase following State initiatives, which have painted technical skills as crucial economic drivers and whose market demand is equally on the rise.

Ms Mutungi said initiatives such as provision of loans and grants, as well as the scrapping of fees for key courses, had resulted in increased enrollment at a time more students were being churned out of secondary schools against thinning university placements.

The Government has recently embarked on an extensive marketing campaign and provided incentives in deliberate steps geared at getting more learners to enroll for technical courses.

Last year, the Government announced Sh3,000 grants targeting colleges which offer training in a range of specific courses. Targeted programmes included electrical and electronics courses, automotive engineering, building and construction, plumbing, secretarial, ICT skills and quantity surveying.

“Just the other day we were really marketing TVET and even said it’s free. This has brought a lot of students into the institutions. One which had 2,000 students now has 5,000,” Mutungi said.

She, however, noted that the added student numbers had put a strain on resources in the institutions.

“In an institution like ours, student numbers shot up from 2,700 to 5,025 last September. We are facing challenges of facilitators and infrastructure because the available resources are just sufficient for the 2,700.”

Mutungi said the colleges had been forced to erect makeshift classrooms to accommodate the large numbers.

Modern equipment

She noted that there was need for extensive expansion of the colleges as well as providing modern equipment to meet industry training standards.

Mutungi, who is the principal of Nairobi Technical Training Institute, commended plans by the State to step up support for TVET training. These, she said, included introduction of a new competency-based education and training whose roll-out is expected to boost the quality of graduates.

Daniel Randa, the principal of Sikri Technical College, which is an institution for visually and hearing impaired, said renewed Government support had raised the quality of training at four such colleges.

Mr Randa added that student enrollment had gone up.

Speaking earlier during the four-day workshop, TVET Director Meshack Opwora pledged increased Government support toward overhauling TVET.

Dr Opwora said the Government would spend Sh173 billion in the next five years to expand colleges as it looked to train up to 5 million technicians.

He said the launch of the education sector strategic plan would help strengthen technical training and shift focus to industry-oriented practical skills, hence plugging the current shortage of technicians.

Opwora said student enrollment rose by 20,000 during the last intake, pushing the total figure to just over 130,000.

The director said a proposal to step up financial support to learners had been mooted and would see beneficiaries access Government loans and grants.