TVET Authority Board of Directors and staff today paid a courtesy call to the Kilifi County CEC member for Education & ICT Ms. Clara Chonga at her office.
TVETA Board was represented by Directors Sammy Milgo, Dr Esther Gacicio, and Valeria Akinyi. They were accompanied by senior staff. The CEC was accompanied by the Director of Vocational Training Eddystella Wanja.
The Board shared with the CEC the highlights of the findings of the Comprehensive Quality Audit Report for Kilifi County carried out by the Authority in the last financial year and the efforts the Authority has undertaken to ensure there is quality training in all TVET training institutions across the country in line with its mandate.
On her part, Ms. Chonga highlighted some of the measures the County is undertaking in improving infrastructure and training across the 41 VTCs in the county, with a student population of around 7,000 students.
For instance, the County Cabinet has already passed a policy to have all government-grounded vehicles to be donated to VTCs offering training in mechanical engineering and other related courses. They have also revamped courses offered in the VTCs by introducing short courses, like on foreign language acquisition, targeting urban areas like Malindi where there is a huge population of foreigners.
She noted that while the County has undertaken strides in mainstreaming vocational training, they are still grappling with a few challenges, especially on the negative perception of TVET, low funding of the sector, and lack of well-trained instructors who fit TVETA’s CBET Trainers Qualification Framework.
On leadership and governance, she said the county has already finalized the selection of members of the Board of Governors for all their VTCs and will soon take them through an induction workshop to understand their role. She invited TVETA to be part of the workshop to also build the capacity of the members, especially on leadership and governance.
TVETA Board Director Sammy Milgo appreciated the CEC for organizing the workshop to train the BoG members, noting that its important they understand their oversight role while Director Akinyi called on the County to modernize some of the VTC to be models for others and also establish Centres of Excellence in specific skill areas, especially those that are needed in the local economy and industry. She also called on the county to tap into the various national government projects like Affordable Housing and have some of their students get attachment and internships and also get work placements.
While Director Dr. Esther Gacicio encouraged the CEC to embrace the industry and establish linkages that can help in improving infrastructure, offering attachment and internship and work placement to trainees as one way of improving the perception of vocational training.
Later, the team addressed a capacity-building workshop on Leadership, Governance, and Quality Management for all VTC Chairpersons of the Board, Centre Managers, and selected instructors from all VTCs in Kilifi County taking place at a local hotel. The training is organized by TVET Authority in partnership with No One Out, an Italian NGO. The meeting is financed by Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
TVETA Director Sammy Milgo told the attendees that the Authority is focusing on ensuring that there is quality training in all TVET institutions across the country and that the Board is currently disseminating the findings of the Comprehensive Quality Audit Report carried out by the Authority in the last financial year so that institutions can be able to establish their training status and on areas where they need to improve.
Kilifi CEC Education and ICT Madam Chonga welcomed the TVETA initiative to build the capacity of BoGs, managers, and instructors in the county, reiterating the County’s commitment to supporting vocational training.
She encouraged the attendees to get all the required information that will enable them to improve training at their respective VTCs noting that, Vocational Centres play an important role in the country. She called on the BoG members to take a leading role in improving their Vocational centers and to also encourage more youths to enroll in vocational training so that they can gain the skills needed in the job market or start their own enterprises.
The Board is currently in Kilifi County to disseminate the report in a number of TVCs and VTCs in the County and neighboring Tana River County.
While TVETA staff from the Outreach Department will continue with the capacity-building workshop of the VTC managers. The training of the Board Chairperson and instructors ends today.
