More than 50 technical colleges will get new heads in changes to be made by the Education ministry's TVET department.
Rift Valley Technical Training Institute, Siaya Institute of Technology, Meru National Polytechnic, Nyandarua TTI, P.C Kinyanjui, KTTC, Kiambu IST are among those affected.
In the changes, Edwin Tarno who served as Rift Valley Technical Training Institute principal will now head the KTTC.
John Odhiambo moves from Siaya TTI to Kabete National Polytechnic while Stephen Ntarangwi who acted as deputy principal of Meru National Polytechnic has been promoted to head it.
TVET Principal Secretary Julius Jwan said Tuesday that the changes will transform the institutions and fill the missing gap between training and skill development.
Jwan said the skilling sector remains neglected and under-utilised. As a result, young people run away from the government-run technical training institutions because of the uninspiring atmosphere and obsolete curriculum.
“These changes have come at a time we are working to revamp our institutions and those deployed will give that transformational leadership to turn the institutions to powerhouses,” Jwan told the Star.
The goal is to make technical courses less theoretical and more in tune with industry requirements. More emphasis will be on practical knowledge and laboratory work, he added.
The industry has often voiced concerns that the majority of new graduates from technical and vocational institutes do not possess adequate skills and have to be trained on the job.
Jwan said the institutions' syllabi should be updated regularly to meet industry needs.
He added that the country had witnessed rapid growth in technical education in the last few years but now the focus needed to be on quality.
"Quality education is the only way to progress,” Jwan said, adding that the government was committed to providing the best teachers, infrastructure and scholarships to all students.
“If we are able to transform our TVETs then it will be easy for the institutions to produce what is needed locally rather than importing and this will propel the economy,” he said.
(edited by o. owino)
