UNESCO BEAR II TVET Managers and Trainers Graduation Celebration
UNESCO Better Education for Africa’s Rise, BEAR II, Project held a graduation ceremony for 112 TVET managers and trainers who successfully completed the training on Open, Distance and eLearning manuals, using the TVET National Learning Management System on 24 June 2022 at the Kenya Technical Trainers College (KTTC) based in Nairobi, Kenya. The graduation ceremony was officiated by Dr. Margaret Mwakima, Principal Secretary, Kenya State Department for Vocational and Technical Training. The graduation was also attended by Ms. Irina Kim, representative to H.E Chaoi Yeonghan, Ambassador, of the Republic of Korea to Kenya.
BEAR II is a joint project of UNESCO and Republic of Korea. UNESCO supported the development of manuals in Kenya based on training needs assessment. The training conducted in hybrid format by KTTC, attracted 369 managers and trainers of TVET who were trained by 15 experts mobilized by UNESCO.
During the ceremony Professor Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO Regional for Eastern Africa, noted that Kenya had set the scene in the digital skills curriculum development and e-learning in TVET for other East African countries to follow and that TVET should not be presented as the last option for those who could not make it to university but rather celebrate TVET as a game changer in youth employment.
Adding to this, Dr. Edwin Tarno, Chief Principal, KTTC Nairobi, noted that KTTC was privileged to be one of the beneficiary institutions under BEAR II Project in Kenya. He stated that the institution had mobilized over 90 trainers and TVET managers to build their capacities to enable them to equip trainees with skills and knowledge for job creation.
Dr. Margaret Mwakima while presiding over the ceremony said that the government had rolled out reforms in the TVET sector that will see a shift from supply-based to demand-based training involving key industry players in order to guarantee relevance to the country’s economic growth. She further added that the future of the economy was in TVET and it was critical to provide the prerequisite skills to young people to fast track their growth and viability in the ever changing job market.
Improved TVET institutions is fundamental to the creation of effective human capital in any country. In an effort to eradicate poverty and ensure sustainable socio-economic development in Africa, the partnership between UNESCO and the Republic of Korea will contribute significantly to promoting and transforming the TVET landscape in Kenya. In Kenya the project focuses on environmental technology sector, selected for its potential to contribute towards economic growth, green jobs creation and environmental preservation.
The Project seeks to improve the relevance, quality, and perception of TVET in five beneficiary countries in Eastern Africa, namely Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda. The initial diagnostic of the different BEAR II countries showed capacity gaps of TVET managers and teachers at the technical and pedagogical levels.