State to accredit artisans who informally acquired technical skills

The government will accredit artisans who acquired their skills without going through formal training, as it starts compiling a technical skills database.

Some people acquired artisan skills through apprenticeship and became masters in their fields but have no certificates to prove it.

With the global economy shifting away from white-collar jobs, technical expertise is the raging currency, said Labour Principal Secretary Peter Tum.

He said the government wants to build a database of technical experts.

“We want to get out there and register all youths with technical skills that they acquired through their own initiatives. It might be that they were trained as apprentices, seeing and doing,” he told Nation.Africa.

Competence in any technical field

“As long as they have that competence in any technical field, we will test them and if they pass, we will certify them as professionals.”

The programme is under the policy of recognition of prior learning.

The government wants at least 70 percent of secondary graduates to voluntarily take up technical courses in vocational and technical institutes by 2030.

He said money to finance technical courses and establish related cottage industries will hit Sh150 billion annually starting in 2025/26 financial year.

“The current narrative on lifelong learning goes beyond formal education and training, including learning at work, in the family and in the community,” Mr Tum said.

“Recognition of prior learning is a process of evaluation of those skills and knowledge acquired through life experience, allowing them to be formally recognised by the qualification systems. It is a central aspect of lifelong learning.”

Budgetary allocations for vocational and technical education recorded a 175 percent increase from Sh6 billion in the 2017/2018 to Sh16.5 billion in 2018/19. That is expected to reach Sh50 billion by 2025.

Reduce fees

He said the number of technical training institutions is increasing and the goal is to have at least one in each constituency. The government also wants to reduce the fees charged and allow students to apply to join public technical institutions through the Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS).

Mr Tum said Kenyans are increasingly seeking employment opportunities beyond the borders where their skills are in high demand as the local economy suffers an acute shortage of artisans to drive industrialisation.

“It is estimated that there are over four million Kenyans in the diaspora. The bulk of the Kenyan migrant labour are destined to the Middle East and Europe. We want to register our technical skills and utilise them for our industrialisation agenda,” he said.

Secondary school leavers

By 2021, some 70 per cent of secondary school leavers were taking up technical courses, said former Education Chief Administrative Secretary Zack Kinuthia

Mr Kinuthia has since resigned to join politics after he briefly served in the Sports, Culture and Heritage ministry in the same capacity.

By the close of 2020, he said, the annual enrolment growth rate was 7.6 percent, meaning it will be a herculean task to raise that figure by 63 more points in the next 10 years.

He said the high risk in that anticipated growth is compromised quality at technical institutes but “continuous assessment by the Technical and Vocational Education Training Authority [will] ensure they meet the required quality and standards”.

This drive has been pegged to Vision 2030 projections, where the government anticipates that the job market will have shaped itself to exhibit open bias against white-collar jobs.

Industrialisation and housing

Vocational Education Training Director Mutinda Mwaa said technical and vocational education training (TVET) graduates will play a key role in achieving the industrialisation and housing pillars of the Big Four agenda.

“To achieve that, the government is working hard to increase budgetary allocation towards the development of the vocational trainers and reduction of tuition fees for courses offered in TVET institutions,” he said.

He said the drive will see young people who don’t join universities get free vocational training in vocational colleges.

Those students, he said, now get Sh15,000 per head for artisan courses and Sh30,000 at technical training institutes (TTIs).

Under the Competency Based Curriculum those profiled to be inclined to technical competencies will be channelled into TTIs instead of mainstream universities.

Make them more attractive

Vocational schools will be upgraded to make them more attractive.

“Most of the facilities are in a sordid situation and do not serve to inspire youths to enroll. The facilities must reflect modernity and instill confidence through updated equipment and quality staff as well as implement progressive syllabuses,” he said.

Mr Mwaa said his department will provide logistical support in raising the bar in modules offered at the polytechnics so as to reflect relevance in the global job market.

“We have to train for the economy, not for the sake of training alone … We must have a job market target and we must be concerned about the future of our graduates, the reason all will be issued with the most basic tool boxes,” he said.

Cytonn Investment Company has released an advisory memorandum to help the government get its act right in this drive.

Strengthen public-private partnerships

The company advocates strengthening public-private partnerships when developing infrastructure and curriculum for technical trainers.

“In our view, the success of this drive will require inclusion of industry players in both development and implementation of the curriculum, continuous training of trainers and inclusion of entrepreneurship and innovation in technical training,” Cytonn says.

The company proposes a Germany-style dual vocational training system that it says has successfully ensured access to technical training and enhanced the entrepreneurship skills of young people.

“Two thirds of the students that leave secondary school in Germany go on to join vocational institutions. The apprenticeship scheme provides companies with cheap labour while students are trained, making the country an industrial powerhouse,” it says.

The training, it says, usually begins at secondary school, where students study to qualify to attend vocational training.

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