Enock Otwori and Brian Kibet, trainers at the Waithaka Vocational Training Centre, are the epitome of the impact teachers have in the lives of their students.
Inspired by their own teachers, the two – Otwori, the Principal Instructor and Kibet the ICT Instructor – have forged their careers as tutors passionate about transforming the lives of their learners through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses.
“When a kid grows up, the person that they’re going to interact with, after leaving the parent’s home, is a teacher. The person they’re going to look up to is a teacher,” Kibet tells Safaricom Newsroom.
Sentiments that Otwori agrees with adding: “and you go out there and you see that person has excelled in life, now you say you are a teacher, you are teaching.”
While TVET courses had not enjoyed the glamour of degrees, there have been significant changes over the last five years, with secondary school leavers preferring to join technical colleges rather than universities.
Industry players have noted that universities have focussed on theory so much that recent graduates are having to be retrained to make them fit for purpose in the job market. As a reaction to this and because TVET courses certification have a faster track to employment, more than 6,600 students who had qualified to join universities after sitting for their KCSE in 2021 opted to join TVET institutions.
This trend has been backed by corporates and the government. Among the institutions that are benefiting from the pool of talent nurtured by TVETs include Kenya Pipeline Company. Through its TVET Authority accredited Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas the firm has built internal capacity to build and maintain its network of pipelines which has led to a saving of millions shillings that could have been spent on foreign consultants.
However, a major hindrance to the mainstreaming of TVET courses and the improvement in the quality of courses offered is the lack of enough but also skilled teachers to meet the demands of the current job market needs that are demanding for digital-skilled talents.
Otwori points out that “the fast-changing technology is proving to be a challenge for the trainers of practical courses”.
A case in point is in the repair and maintenance of vehicles, where currently, tech-enabled diagnosis has taken root which demands trainers to get refresher courses to catch up.
Fortunately, the Waithaka Vocational Training Centre is ready to meet this growing demand. Close to two years ago, the Safaricom Foundation set the stage for the training institute to become a model TVET ICT-enabled Centre of Excellence.
The KES 130 million investment, targeting over 1000 young people, by the Foundation sought to put in place ‘sustainable infrastructure for youth training, improve instructor training capacities, access to training opportunities in employable areas, institutional capacities and finally increase transition to employment.’
The impact of the ICT-lab can be seen by the fact that when trainees from Waithaka participated in a TVET e-marathon competition in July, the best candidate in the ladies category women and the third best male were from the institution,
Now, trainers and trainees have access to digital skills and equipment to build more advanced technology skills to complement their technical lessons.
“As a student, the digitization of the Electrical Installation course with Teacher Brian has been instrumental in equipping me with skills to interpret, share and store electric information from diagrams and wiring systems to notes and reports.” says Bonnie Njung’e, one of the students at the institution.
“The implementation of ICT in our plumbing and pipe fitting course has improved both the teaching and learning process in that a project illustrated by the use of a computer and projector to deliver learning materials can be understood better,” says Nelly Njambi, another student.
For ICT-instructor Kibet, the ICT lab has enhanced his teaching output, “I feel like my teaching path has been simplified. Because now I don’t have to focus on all the students at once. I can focus on the students individually because when it comes to the lab, a student has their own computer, and they can work as an individual.”
This story is part of Safaricom Newsroom’s celebration of World Teacher’s Day that is celebrated annually on 5 October to highlight the responsibilities, rights, and the value of teachers. This year’s theme is ‘The transformation of education begins with teachers.’
