Kenya has began the process of setting standard qualifications that will be accepted across International -governmental Authority on Development member countries.
Kenya National Qualifications Authority director general Juma Mukhwana and Abdi Kea who is a Principal Education officer will be part of the team to take part in the process.
Mukhwana said Kenya has set the pace for the other eight countries in the region in terms of development and implementation of national qualifications.
“Kenya is already mentoring Ethiopia and Uganda who are at the tail end of rolling out their national qualification frameworks. Other countries are making steady progress,” he said.
The member countries include; Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda.
Earlier, Mukhwana said the regional framework will be a great advantage to member states.
The DG said the lack of a harmonised structure causes a toll on professional exposure to other countries.
“In some of these countries, it will take you up to six months for them to figure out what your qualification is,” he said.
All the other seven countries are yet to implement a qualifications regulator, apart from Kenya.
Ethiopia is in the process of installing a qualifications authority in the country.
Once this proposal is adopted, the other seven countries will be required to implement national qualification frameworks.
The eight national qualifications authorities will be in charge of setting a regional framework.
During the 3rd conference held in Nairobi, it was agreed that each member state endeavors to develop national qualification framework. This, the ministers said will fast-track the development of the Igad regional qualification framework.
Igad Program coordinator Tsegaye Kebede welcomed the proposal, saying it was long overdue.
In terms of different curricula being used by the countries, Kebede said the states will work with a process referred to as mapping.
“We are trying to approximate equivalency which will allow the countries to follow their own national system but it should find its place in the regional framework,” he said.
For instance, if the Igad framework has ten levels, the participating countries will map themselves according to their level.
Kebede clarified that the framework will be submitted for consideration to the education ministers by November.
