Stephan Mukubui, the Director of Administration in the Department of Education for Trans Nzoia County, has urged vocational training managers and trainers to embrace technology and music to attract more youth to their centers.
Speaking at the close of a one-week training at Anderson Vocational Training Centre in Endebess Sub County, Mukubui highlighted the importance of numbers in attracting government funding. “If we don’t go beyond our norms, how do you convince the assembly or the executive people who are depending on votes? Why are they taking the money to go to the bursary? It’s because of the numbers. When you don’t have the number, funding becomes a challenge,” Mukubui said.
He added that if vocational training centres do not adapt to technology, they risk being left behind, and young people will not be attracted to the centres. Mukubui cited research showing that young people in the country spend eight out of every twelve hours on technology, either using a phone, TV, or laptop.
Mukubui also challenged the Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) team to integrate technology into their curriculum and courses. He suggested that traditional courses like garment making could be made more attractive to modern girls by combining them with technology.
In a surprising twist, Mukubui proposed the introduction of music courses in vocational training centres. “Young people love music. Where is the training for the music done? Where do they learn the keyboard, the guitar, and the trumpets? Why don’t we introduce courses so that our youths can learn them from our vocational training centres?” he asked.
To further attract the youth, Mukubui suggested the provision of free Wi-Fi internet connectivity in all the training centres across the county. He also urged the centres to modernize their carpentry and joinery courses, noting that people in the modern world are using electric hammers and hacksaws, not hand-held blades.
Mukubui also pointed out that over 400,000 Kenyans are in Saudi Arabia exporting skills and labour. He suggested that vocational training centres could train young people in caregiving, a field that is currently providing jobs for many Kenyans abroad.
Trans Nzoia County Director of Vocational Training Centre, Mr Eliud Khisa Lusweti, echoed Mukubui’s sentiments. He said the training of managers and trainers on CBET is aligning the trainings at the vocational training centres (VTCs) with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), encouraging students to build up their skills from a tender age.
Lusweti also suggested that vocational training centres should be allowed to offer the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), turning the centres into certification centres. He proposed that the centres could issue driving licenses to bodaboda riders, which would help increase the value of the institutions and aid in their growth.
Lusweti further suggested that the vocational training centres could generate their own revenue by making uniforms for over 41,000 ECDE students and the county’s 350 enforcement officers who need uniforms annually.
He thanked the CBET team for their commitment to training the managers and trainers from the 32 vocational training centres for one week, noting that Trans Nzoia County is the only county in the country that has trained and equipped its vocational centres’ managers and trainers through CBET.
