State will hire 5,000 tutors to lift Tvets

The government plans to recruit 5,000 trainers for technical and vocational education and training colleges in the next two years, a senior official has revealed.

Education Chief Administrative Secretary Zack Kinuthia said the exercise, which will be extended to 2025, will cost the government Sh10 billion in salaries and benefits for the new recruits.

“We have recruited 2,000 for the first phase and we are now interviewing the second batch of 1,000 trainers to be officially employed by next week. This will leave us with a deficit of 2,000 who will be employed by 2022,” said Mr Kinuthia.

The CAS revealed that a dispute between the Public Service Commission (PSC) and Teachers Service Commission over which agency had the authority to recruit the trainers had been amicably resolved.

“The PSC has been mandated to carry out recruitment. Boardroom negotiations have prevailed and we have ironed out the issue. Now it is all systems go as we commit Sh2 billion annually to recruit the trainers,” said Kinuthia.

The sector was allocated Sh15 billion in this year’s budget.

The government, he added, was fast-tracking the recruitment drive in tandem with the ongoing curriculum overhaul that aims to move emphasis away from passing exams to mentoring learners and nurturing talent.

Kinuthia said for the country to achieve Vision 2030 and the Big Four agenda, the citizens’ mindset must transform from focusing on white-collar jobs to self-employment and cottage industries.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i recently said Tvet graduates will play a key role in the realisation of the industrialisation and housing pillars of the Big Four agenda.