By Amoto Ndiewo
Dr. Augustine Ndungu, the author of the book ‘How to make TVET work,’ said that the success of TVET lies in the idea of bringing the job market to classrooms.
Speaking to KBC, Ndungu said that the introduction and application of a compliant curriculum in vocational education has seen TVETs reap the success it has.
He added that TVET success lies in shifting from supply driven courses to demand driven courses.
‘As much as TVET courses are demand driven, the government’s interest remains limited because her resource remittances is less than 10%,’’ said Ndungu adding that TVET is just a tiny cog in the ministry of education where other departments eat the lion’s share.
Stressing that the market needs are important, Ndungu called on TVETs to stick to selective training of what the market needs instead of going for mass production.
He added that the ministry of education should establish a full time ministry for TVETS and feed the ministry with sufficient resources to make the much needed breakthrough of reducing unemployment.
He argued that the role of customers is very essential because they are the determinants of what the job market needs.
‘Just like youths need life skills to join the job market, the community needs to change their attitude to embrace blue collar jobs. Skills on how to relate with people are also important,’ he said.
He revealed that TVET students are subjected to many lessons like being ready to learn, being honest, maintaining integrity and expressing willingness to follow orders.
‘They learn how to communicate with people within and outside the working environment. They also learn about time management, which is a very important aspect in life,’ he added.
Through his book, Ndungu says that life skills deal with: who am I, where do I want to go, how do I get there and what attitudes do I need.
He notes that to reinforce resilience, TVETs can occasionally employ the services of religious leaders of various faiths.
‘Youths make 70% of the Kenyan population. The issue of unemployment facing many of the youths is a manmade problem that the government can solve within a very short time. How do we complain of unemployment yet about 40% of businesses can’t grow because they lack the right people to employ?’ he asked.
He wondered why youths can’t be trained and be given the right skills to grow food to curb the perennial food shortage in the country.
He further accused the government of killing village polytechnics by starving them of resources from the bottom.
‘The government should be more committed to reviving village polytechnics. Once revived, a primary school student can join a village polytechnic from where he can proceed to TVET and progressively sit for certificate, diploma higher diploma courses. He can thereafter join university, earn degrees and head to professorship, if he so wishes,’ said Ndungu.
He argued that since universities train managers and TVETs train workers and supervisors, a student gunning through the ranks from a village polytechnic to university is a jewel.
He urged youths in TVETs to be proud of what they do to earn a living.
