By J, KNA
The Government is assessing and aligning the skills of Kenyans with the demands of both the local and international job markets.
Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry Mr Lee Kinyanjui said the initiative aimed at ensuring the Kenyan curriculum remains relevant and responsive to the evolving needs of various industries.
Mr Kinyanjui indicated that the fast-evolving trends in technology and industrial revolution necessitated Kenyan Technical Vocational Education Training Institutes (TVETs) and polytechnics to revise, rescale and remodify their training programmes to align them with market driven skills required for industrialisation.
He was speaking at the Kenya Industrial Training Institute (KITI) in Nakuru where he presided over a graduation of 700 students.
While noting that the TVET Act 2013 provides for continuous development where teachers are expected to retrain so as to be able to train the students, the Cabinet Secretary stated that aligning training with industrial needs will have a ripple effect on the economy because businesses are likely to expand and create new jobs if they are able to find the talents they need.
“Skills that are acquired through TVETs and polytechnics can provide solutions to society, improve national development, food security and other spheres of life. We expect to see technical institutions producing research papers looking into the skills required in the future and the labour market trends,” he added.
Mr Kinyanjui stated that a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly to make 2016-2025 a Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III) has opened a new chapter for Industrial progression in the region.
He said the move will target Agro-Value-Chain development, establishment of Special Economic Zones and digitisation.
The Cabinet Secretary stated that the national government was supporting creation of County Aggregation Industrial Parks (CAIPS) to help grow industrialisation and middle income to provide quality life to all Kenyans by 2030 in a clean and secure environment.
He described County Industrial Parks as valuable for investment and magnets of technology that drive production adding that the national government was working with the devolved units and other partners to accelerate delivery of such parks across the country to promote investment, create employment and boost exports.
He stated that the world over, the labour market was transiting from theoretical expertise to practical-based skills adding that a growing number of Kenyans with good academic qualifications were unemployed because of a mismatch of skills and career choices.
Kinyanjui revealed that there was a growing shortage of technicians and artisans in the country and in order to achieve the Kenya Vision 2030, the country needs 90,000 technicians and over 400,000 artisans to plug the current shortage.
“We boast of having an educated youth, whose glossy academic qualifications are a mismatch with practical industry needs. Our educational institutions are churning out more quantity surveyors, engineers and architects against a backdrop of growing worrisome shortage of vocational skills and competencies such as plumbing, electrical installation, welding, brick laying, painting, carpentry, tailoring among others. If we go on like this, we will start bringing in expatriate artisans and craftsmen,” Kinyanjui stated.
He noted that though the world was struggling with youth unemployment, it was experiencing a skills shortage and affirmed that skills development was crucial for the country to prosper in the rapidly changing world.
“Skills development and transformation is crucial for Kenya’s economic growth and development. It is a key driver for employability, poverty eradication, sustained social and economic growth and cohesion,” stated the Cabinet Secretary.
“The Kenya Kwanza administration has recognised that skills development is vital for the country’s growth and has prioritised it in its development agenda. The country’s skills ecosystem is now focusing on predicting how the need for skills will change and the preparedness to be responsive,” Kinyanjui said.
“We are ensuring that there is coordination between skilling and industrial development. We are determined to put a stop to the mismatch between the skills the students graduate with and industry needs. We are equipping our learners with capacities to anticipate and be aware of labour market dynamics,” he added.
The Cabinet Secretary said the skills mismatch is a result of weak linkage between education and industry leading to unemployment, which disproportionately affects the youths, who account for a large percentage of the current population of around 50 million people.
The CS was accompanied by the Principal Secretary, Industrialisation Dr Juma Mukhwana among other officials.