The Principal Secretary, State Department for Vocational and Technical Training (VTT) Dr. Margaret Mwakima has today termed the establishment of a Skills Gateway for TVET in Kenya platform has a landmark development that will change the face of TVET sector in the country.
The PS made the remarks when received a status report on the various projects undertaken by various stakeholders in the TVET sector in Kenya, and which coalesce around the Better Education for Africa’s Rise project, second phase (BEAR II).
The meeting was attended by TVET Authority Director General Dr. Kipkirui Langat, Acting Director DTE Mr. Tom Mulati, TVET Advisor to the Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof Eric Ogur and UNESCO Regional Coordination of Bear II Project Mame Diarra Ndiaye, among others.
BEAR II is a joint effort between UNESCO and the Republic of Korea to improve the TVET systems of five beneficiary countries in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda).
The Skills Gateway for TVET has been developed under the auspices of BEAR II. The one stop portal has accumulated in one place a wide array of TVET data, which will be easily accessible to the public at a click of a button.
The platform will be under the administration on TVET Authority but will hold data and information about the entire TVET sector.
The platform has among other elements, the hub for TVET providers in the country, industries/firms, a portal for job seekers and different potential links for employment, opportunities for apprenticeships/internships, skills information hub, and labour market information.
Dr. Mwakima said the Skills Gateway platform is an excellent innovation that will help the youth to find training and job placement opportunities.
“This is a wonderful platform, which has brought everything in the TVET platform under one central place and just with the click of a button, anyone can get data and any information on anything in the sector,” Dr. Mwakima said.
She asked the developers to link the platform with the Ministry of Education website and that of other State agencies in the TVET sector so that it becomes a one stop data hub for education and training in the country.
The overall objective of BEAR II project is to support national authorities together with the private sector to improve relevance, quality and perception of TVET in Kenya and the other four countries where its implemented. It specifically aims to enhance TVET system capacity and increase collaboration with the private sector to ensure employability of student graduate from TVET programmes in the environment sector.
The project has so far achieved a number of milestones, which includes the development of the Skills Gateway platform, development of Solar PV Curricula, establishment of WorldSkills Kenya chapter, development of Learning Management System (LMS) at the Kenya Technical Training College (KTTC), among others.
During the meeting, the PS was also updated of the status of WorldSkills Kenya (WSK), which is a member of WorldSkills International (WSI), which runs the WorldSkills Competition (WSC) by Prof. Eric Ogur. Prof Ogur is the WSK Official Delegate to WSI. Kenya was admitted as the 84th member to WSC last year in October. As through the assistance of BEAR II project, WSK secretariat, skills experts, TVETA staff, and selected TVET stakeholders and the private have already undertaken training to understand the competition and hold a national skills competition.
The PS also received a report from the private sector players, focusing on the role of the private sector on skills development and involvement in the TVET sector. The report was presented by Muchiri Mungai, a Director at KNCCI.
The Permanent Working Group (PWG) on TVET also made a presentation on the planning and preparation for the forthcoming Hands on The Future Kenya Skills Show, which is slated for October this year.
