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{
    "id": 839663,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/839663/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 353,
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    "content": "cannot eke out a living unless they have a white collar job yet the evidence is to the contrary. The Committee on Education had a good time when we went to the Rift Valley Training Institute this afternoon. We saw high training levels at Technical Vocational Education and Training Institutions (TVET). They have robots that are going to be programmed to assist in building or carrying heavy blocks. That was impressive and it shows the level of advancement. In developed countries, the issue of white collar jobs is a non-starter. Statistics are clear that the unemployment rate is high in Kenya and TVET is the only way to go. This will be worse if we do not have the technical and vocational education which will help young people to learn skills and jobs for themselves. That is an area that is expanding. There is a good conception of having exchange programmes. If you look at the papers, you will find countries like Canada and Australia advertise everyday for skilled labour within their countries. This gives an opportunity for partnership between organisations and these countries. We can have the young people, who have been trained in these particular sectors, go there to work as plumbers and artisans. In Canada, Australia and many other countries, technical and vocational training is key and important. It is not seen to be demeaning. Its qualifications have been given substantially and there is chance to move on to the universities. We all know the problems that the youth face in this country. Many of them have been brought up with the idea that they are going to get big jobs with cars and houses. When they do not attain that, it drags them into frustration. We know of many youths who have not attained the kind of achievement they had hoped for. The issue of funding is critical and comes to the fore. The Government has made an effort on this and we were informed that up to Kshs30, 000 is paid per student and about Kshs10, 000 to Kshs13, 000 is paid by the parents. That enables the youth to get trained. As Sen. Seneta said earlier, we went to a hair dressing room, mechanical engineering room, civil engineering room and a room where they were repairing cars. The labour market is waiting for this impetus to be taken to a higher level. Some structure and guideline has to be put into place. As Sen. Olekina has said, skill assessment needs to be done. They should also be encouraged. This is a systematic problem that we have dealt with from the beginning when we had the Sessional Paper of 1963 on education, the findings of the Ominde Commission and the findings of the Swynnerton Plan. The 8-4-4 Education System was to partly address the issue of technical and vocational training. It was to give the young people a chance to do other things and to create self-employment. Self-employment is going to be the key word moving forward, hence we need youth who have expertise. The issue on what happens when they have these skills after training came during our field visit. There was also a question on funding because they wanted to know where they can get the tools. We have to ensure that they are empowered in one way or another such that they can get the tools for work after graduating. Without that, they will not have an impact. There is variation at various counties and systemisation needs to be done. The Senate can do an assessment of the TVET institutions that exist across the various The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}