The Sh16 billion budget allocation for Technical and Vocational Education Training institutes must be augmented to enable the institutions propel the Big Four Agenda.
Principal Secretary Kevit Desai on Thursday said the production sector should support TVET colleges because they benefit from graduates.
Desai said one per cent of the total turnover from the sector should be channelled to supporting training in TVET institutions.
The PS said he will seek Sh10 billion from the productive sector this year to add on the budget allocation for the 2018-2019 financial year.
Desai said that the institutions need more funding because they are at the centre of the Big Four agenda on economic generation.
"We are building a system that will have no room for failure, and this will be possible with support of all partners," Desai said.
Treasury CS Henry Rotich on Thursday tripled the allocation for TVET institutions. The colleges got Sh6 billion in the 2017-2018 budget.
The institutions train hands-on skills. The expertise has been identified as the key propeller of the Big Four agenda.
"It is a good thing that the government finally gave a substantive allocation to TVET institutions. We will supplement it with funding to be sought from development partners," Desai said.
The institutions are grappling with shortage of training instructors, poor infrastructure that has forced to undertake studies under tents and lack of equipment.
Desai said the institutions currently have 4,000 trainers. Another 2,000 are need to address the deficit.
"I was at the Eldoret Polytechnic yesterday and it was disheartening to see students undertaking classes under trees," the PS said.
"The learners also told me that they have logistical problems and cannot move around because they don't have a bus. We need to give learners a conducive environment."
This years graduates will form the first batch of trainees who will be attached to various production industries.
Statistics from the ministry show there are 290 technical training institutions, 11 polytechnics and 700 vocational training colleges.