Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The government is set to standardize all Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions in a bid to provide equitable quality skilled education.

TVET National director Meshack Opwora said the move is aimed at equalizing both national and county institutions after a report showed a huge disparity between the two levels of education.

 “We have seen huge disparities in terms of quality in the training that is done in institutions under national government and those institutions under county government and this what we want to address and fill the gap to provide equitable quality education to all,” said Opwora.

He said institutions under the national government and those under the county government vary and therefore affect the quality of education being offered.

Speaking at Meru National Polytechnic where he was accompanied by principals and other TVET institutions stakeholders while conducting dissemination of TVET Quality audits countrywide in all TVET institutions, he added the move is in line with government’s agenda to ensure many youths join and acquire adequate skills.

The director further noted that County institutions lack proper equipment amid understaffing adding, that does not match the standards at the national TVET centres.

 “We have the state-of-the-art equipment in institutions under national government but when you come to institu[1]tions under county government there is a big challenge and that what we want to address and ensure all student get equal opportunities,” Opwora added.

He said they are in the process of procuring state of the art equipment for 70 technical vocational colleges across the country.

 “The ministry of education is at the tail end of the procurement process from China and are expecting quality equipment which will be coming by the end of the year. We also have other equipment from our partners the Africa Development Bank and East Africa Skills for Transformation (A World Bank Project) all these will be chanelled to improve county training institutions” added the Director.

 At the same time, he added the government is keen on vocational training in the aim of curbing the rate of unemployment in the country. Also speaking TVETA Board Chair of Technical Committee Julius Keter lamented that most institutions are doing well in terms of leadership standards.

 Relevant training

 “The findings of our report are very promising we are doing well in terms of leadership most institutions have established and are following our standards. To regulate TVET we have to come up with standards so we have standards then we audit the institutions In line with those standards most institutions have improved,” Keter said

“Our concern is that we have relevant training that if futuristic captures the spirit of the world of work and to achieve this we need a multi-sectoral approach,” Keter said.