Kenya should emulate Singapore and invest in Technical and Vocational institutions in order to experience rapid economic development.
Labour CS Ukur Yattani said Singapore identified industrialisation as a key driver for growth, and therefore invested heavily in the evolution of the education curriculum and TVET, to address changing manpower needs.
"Since industrialisation creates productive employment, Singapore has become one of the world’s trailblazing economies and top investor destinations. Still, manufacturing continues to play a strong role in the country’s economy and is attributed to this overall economic stability," he said.
The CS was speaking on Thursday during the launch of August 2018 Series of the National Trade Test at the National Industrial Training Authority headquarters.
Kenya’s grand development projects require 30,000 technologists, 40,000 technicians, and at least 90,000 craftsmen.
Currently, the country is producing only a quarter of these annually.
Trade Testing is a skill testing process to determine the level of competence of a person in his/her occupation or trade area for the purpose of certification and subsequent entry into employment or for self-reliance in the informal sector.
Read:
The trade testing period will run from August 13 to September 2 in 22 regions across the country.
This year's theme is 'Promoting the Big-4 Agenda through occupational competence assessment and certification”.
Yattani said graduates with jobs-specific skills have a higher potential of being more productive and more equipped to execute tasks for which they have been trained.
This means that a successful skills training and development programme is an integral part of a dynamic workforce, and is a pre-requisite for the economic and social development of a country.
The minister said 30 per cent of employers in Kenya are citing inadequately skilled workforce as a major constraint to business expansion.
He said one of the main reasons Kenya is not benefiting much from her demographic dividend is that many young people are locked out of quality education and skills acquisition.
Also read:
Related:
