The National government plans to enrol a total of 27,100 youth in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges across Kericho County to pursue various technical hands-on skill-based courses to spur the Bottom-up Economical Transformation Agenda (BETA) programmes.
Speaking before chairing a County Security meeting held at Kericho Teachers Training College (TTC), the Kericho County Commissioner (CC), Mr Gilbert Kitiyo, said that 100 youth will be selected from the 271 Sub-locations, where the National government will sponsor their education.
The CC said the initiative is meant to equip the youth with technical skills and knowledge to enable them to venture into self-employment and earn a living while at the same time helping to reduce social vices in the society.
“That way we will have a lot of youth who will be having skills and we will have fewer problems in the villages,” Mr. Kitiyo emphasised.
Some of the TVET institutions in Kericho County include Kericho Township Technical & Vocational College, Kapchepkor Technical Training Institute, Kimasian Technical & Vocational College, Bureti National Technical Training Institute, Kipsinende Technical & Vocational College, and Belgut Technical Training Institute, among others.
At the same time, the CC also revealed that a total of 7,000 youth had applied for the ongoing placement of the Climate Workx Programme in Kericho, saying that the programme will commence in July this year.
The programme is designed to create short-term employment opportunities for young people through labour-intensive public works that include road maintenance, tree planting, solid waste management and rehabilitation of urban and rural infrastructure, such as clearing roadside bushes, unblocking of storm water channels, patching potholes, and establishing and growing tree seedling nurseries at strategic locations such as chiefs’ camps.
During the meeting that involved the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO), the County Security team, Prison Service Officers, and Kenya Forest Service officers, the CC also mentioned that the County was ready for grade Nine, 100 per cent transition to grade 10 Senior Secondary School, where a total of 300 classrooms are at various stages of completion in the County.
The County Commissioner said that issues of cattle rustling along the volatile Nyanza-Kericho borders have reduced to zero and thanked the security personnel in Kericho for the effort to contain the menace.
Kitiyo said brewing and consumption of illicit brews had also been minimised following frequent crackdowns on the graft.
On National envisaged Tree growing exercise where the government intends to plant a total of 15 billion trees by the year 2032, the CC said in pursuit of the goal, the County has so far planted a total of two million tree seedlings this year and another eight million tree seedlings are ready for planting at various government forests and degraded sites.
Others present at the meeting included the County Police Commander James Ngetich, Deputy County Commissioners, Assistant County Commissioners, Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs.
By Dominic Cheres and Kibe Mburu
