The Director-General TVET Authority Dr. Kipkirui Langat together with the Deputy Director Technical Education Linah Ayako and Personal Assistant to the Principal Secretary to Vocational and Technical Training George Kwenya yesterday carried out an extensive tour at the Boma International Hospitality College (BIHC) to assess the institution’s preparedness to re-open for in campus learning.
During the tour, which was conducted by the college’s Director Dr. Abbas Gullet, the delegation took a tour of the BIHC facilities, specifically, signage, new hand-washing stations and sanitization booths, as well as the social-distancing measures the Management at BIHC has put in place in preparation for the return of the students for physical on-campus learning.
The team toured the smart classrooms for both on-campus and virtual learning, the library and modern kitchens the institution has put in cognizant of Covid-19 protocols that will be fitted with state-of-the-art equipment already imported from South Africa, the restaurant that will serve both as a training area and business entity and the staff offices.
The BIHC team also introduced their latest project, the BIHC Coffee School, which will seek to train professionals and coffee-enthusiasts on the fundamentals of coffee roasting, brewing, and sensory skills.
The government delegation also toured the Kenya Red Cross Training Institute, which is within the BIHC compound, and was also taken through a tour of the institute facilities and the safety measures in place ahead of re-opening of colleges. The team witnessed a demo resuscitation lesson and the measures taken to protect learners during training.
Dr Langat expressed his satisfaction with the safety measures the college has taken to prepare for re-opening and applauded them for specializing only in the hospitality sector, which is critical in the country development agenda.
“You have done well, especially in focusing and specializing in one area, which is hospitality, instead of spreading yourself thin by having many programmes. This is encouraging because you can now become a Centre of Excellence in the area of hospitality, where, as a government we can refer our trainers to come for refresher courses,” Dr Langat said.
He also said that BIHC has been selected as one of the institutions that will spearhead the hospitality category as the country prepares to compete at the WorldSkills Competition (WSC). Two of the lecturers from BIHC have also been selected as the experts who will prepare students to compete at the national and global WorldSkills Competition scheduled for next year in Shanghai, China.
