Ministry roots for e-learning in TVETs

The government has finalised training tutors for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions on remote learning.

The training, which involved instructors from private and public TVET colleges, ended on Thursday last week at Nairobi’s Kenya Technical Teachers College (KTTC).

It was organised by the Ministry of Education and Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutions.

The training focused on the establishment of an Open Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) as part of the coronavirus disease response. It targeted training of trainers.

TVET Principal Secretary Julius Jwan said the ministry had established a secretariat at KTTC to provide subsidised e-learning bundles for staff and trainees.

“Remote training is set to start today and instructors should make sure all staff and students have access to institutional email addresses, register students online for the training, prepare timetables for the training and submit monitoring and evaluation reports to the secretariat,” Dr Jwan said.

Place measures

The ministry from July started putting in place measures to ensure reopening of higher learning institutions in line with Covid-19 protocols, while aware of the developments relating to the pandemic from the Ministry of Health.

“A survey of all TTCs, universities and TVET institutions has shown that few of them have put in place necessary measures to comply with the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 protocol. This is why they can’t be reopened in September as earlier anticipated,” Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said last month.

The government is rolling out remote learning to ensure students do not lose more time.

Jwan said the government would focus on equipping youth with basic vocational skills such as plumbing, electrical wiring, welding, brick laying, painting, carpentry and tailoring.

“TVET will equip youth not only with the current skills but also future skills to spur research and innovation. The government has established 203 TVET institutions and will establish 15 more this financial year. It is expected that every constituency will have a technical and vocational centres in the next five years,” said Jwan.