Institutions of higher learning will have to align their programmes to the new Competency-based Curriculum.
Pioneer International University vice Chancellor Gideon Maina has said the curriculum will churn out well-trained graduates for the human resource sector.
“The debate about the competency-based curriculum could not have come at a better time because the economy of a country depends s on a well-trained human resource,” he said.
It, however, demands a paradigmatic change for the higher learning institutions to shift from the old system of training the new order, he said.
His institution, he noted, has had its Bachelor of Education Arts approved by the Commission for University Education and will be the first education programme approved locally that is competency based.
“The teachers we are training will have the competencies and skills to train students at the university, who will, in turn, transfer the skills to secondary schools,” he said on Friday.
“It behoves us as universities and higher learning institutions to prepare thoroughly for this new curriculum and align ourselves to it.”
Maina said the new system will also require Kenyans to approach education in a different way, as he said many previously thought enrolling in a university and getting a degree was the only way to make it in life.
We have also seen students who have been admitted in universities choosing to drop out and enrol for technical courses.
This, he said, has been challenged by the many people who have enrolled for technical courses and have done well in life even without degrees.
He said what is needed is a clear plan and sufficient funding from the government for the new education system to be fully implemented.
He also challenged the government to create a link between technical institutions and the industry so that students can be placed in industries for technical skills.
Such a nexus between universities and industries, he said, would be a game changer in the transformation of the country in terms of skills and growth of the economy.
He, however, pointed out that the government now fully appreciates the importance of technical courses which has caused an influx of technical students.
He spoke during the Inauguration of a statue of Father Joseph of Allamano in Pioneer International University Blessed Allamano College of Technology in Sagana.
Maina noted that the university has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sagana Technical Institute, which is managed by the Catholic Church.
The MoU signed in May last year has seen the university pump resources towards the enhancement of the institute’s infrastructure and programmes
