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The Government is seeking to enhance enrolment in  Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions from the current 350,000 to double the number in the next five years.

This comes as the country celebrates 100 years of TVET, with major focus on transforming the sector, changing mindsets and increasing the number of youths in these institutions to at least one million.

Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) Director of Technical Services Stanley Maindi, who is also in the national TVET at 100 planning committee, said TVET is a key employment enabler in the country but it is yet to realise its full potential despite investment in the sector.

“We want to rekindle the TVET fire and give it more value and attention… currently, we have about 350,000 in TVETs and we want to double this to between 750,000 to 1 million youths and also ensure they get quality skills,” said Maindi.

“TVET was initially thought to be for people who had failed, it was thought as the last alternative yet it is the greatest enabler. We want to increase the uptake of TVET through increased enrollment, change perceptions and enhanced financing,” he added.

Similarly, he said there is need to modernise and transform TVET to effectively meet the labour market and societal needs and drive the national economic agenda, dubbed the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).

He said the celebrations aim at mitigating existing challenges by re-branding and re-positioning TVET to effectively promote youth employability, mobility, decent work and lifelong learning.

The TVET at 100 celebrations were launched in March by lighting a torch in Nyeri, which is being taken round the country to create awareness on the critical role that the institutions play.