What you need to know: Caroline Adhiambo, works as a construction supervisor studied for a diploma in a TVET institution. Caroline Adhiambo employer praises TVET graduates as better workers than those from universities and other institutions. Her dream is to start a construction company and hire fellow women. After sitting her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in 2016, Caroline Adhiambo was admitted to a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institution in Mombasa, rejecting a teaching offer from a college in Nyeri. My family was surprised when I opted to join Kenya Coast National Polytechnic (KCNP) for a three-year diploma course in Building Technology, the 23-year-old says. Adhiambo, who scored 308 marks in her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and a C in KCSE at St Cecilia Nangina Girls High School in Busia County, was one of two female students in the building technology class at the national Polytechnic. I have always had a passion for building, drawing, and design. I wanted to be an engineer and build my house, Adhiambo tells Higher Education when we catch up with her at a construction site she is supervising in Ganjoni, Mombasa County. She boasts of earning more than many white-collar workers. Supervisors, popularly known as foremen, make between Sh1,000 and Sh3,000 per day. While in high school at St Cecilia Nangina Girls High School, her first university course of choice was actuarial science. I did not qualify for actuarial science. Though building and technology is a tough course, I completed it. Male students looked down on us but our lecturers urged us on, she says. Her dream is to start a construction company and hire fellow women. New funding model revamps TVETs Report: Gen Z hate 8-5 jobs, want to be their own boss During her attachment, Adhiambo learned to be tough as nails in the male-dominated profession, mastering skills like laying bricks, plastering, and mixing concrete. The men know Im an expert in construction. When they do shoddy work, they have to start over, she says, adding that age remains a challenge as elderly workers feel uncomfortable being supervised by someone young enough to be their daughter or granddaughter. After completing her course at KCNP, Adhiambo worked as a supervisor for a construction company in Busia for two years before being referred to her current employer by a former lecturer. Her employer, a contractor who also studied engineering at the National Polytechnic, praises TVET graduates as better workers than those from universities and other institutions. Adhiambos journey exemplifies the governments push to enhance practical training in TVET institutions. With drastic changes underway, these institutions will soon make 70 per cent of students coursework practical, limiting theory to 30 per cent. This shift aligns with the governments aim to provide students with adequate practical skills and knowledge through a Competence-Based Education and Training (CBET) curriculum that emphasises industry linkages and a dual training approach. So, what does this new-look TVET entail? Higher Education spoke to Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu who said the government is keen to have a strong TVET curriculum that provides students with adequate practical skills and knowledge. The Competence-Based Education and Training (CBET) curriculum seeks to mainstream industry linkages and practical skills to students through the dual training approach, which stresses industry linkages and practical skills, the minister said. The governments commitment to strengthening TVETs, evident in increased funding and emphasis on industry linkages, bodes well for students like Adhiambo. Machogu emphasised that to lay a strong foundation, the government reinstated the TVET Curriculum Development, Assessment, and Certification Council (TVET CDACC) in 2023, in line with the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Act of 2013. The primary mandate of the council is to oversee curriculum design, assessment, and certification. This seeks to safeguard the TVET curriculum, infuse it with practical and relevant skills, and create necessary industry linkages, Mr Machogu said. He added that the Kenya School of TVET would play a significant role in retooling tutors to deliver Competence-Based Education and Training (CBET), with a strong focus on practical skills. This seeks to safeguard the TVET curriculum, infuse it with practical and relevant skills, and create necessary industry linkages, Mr Machogu said. He added that the Kenya School of TVET would play a significant role in retooling tutors to deliver Competence-Based Education and Training, with a strong focus on practical skills. The Education Minister expressed optimism that the Kenya School of TVET would develop robust tutor education programs to produce graduates with usable and m
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