The Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr Julius Ogamba, underscored the Government’s commitment in finding Kenyan youth job opportunities abroad. CS Ogamba spoke during The Technical University of Kenya, 13th Graduation Ceremony.
In a speech read on his behalf by the Secretary of Administration in the Ministry Mr. Fredrick Ndambuki, the CS maintained that professionals, skilled workers, and semi-skilled Kenyans will access opportunities in different countries world-wide, such as Germany and others, that the Government is currently engaging.
He said, “To be ready to take advantage of job offerings abroad, I urge the graduands and continuing students at all levels of our education system to take a keen interest and learn foreign languages such as German, French, Arabic, Chinese, among others,”
To remain relevant, university lecturers are expected to be creative and flexible in terms of teaching and understanding of issues.
He went further to urge graduates seeking to travel out of the country in search of job opportunities to do due diligence before flying out. He emphasised that by doing that, they would be shielding themselves against potential scammers and fraudsters.
“There are very many employment agencies in town but very few are genuine. Those of you who may get the opportunity to travel abroad, ensure you register your presence with the nearest Kenyan Embassy or High Commission. You may also have to join social groupings of other compatriots living in those countries. You never know when you will need them,” he observed.
CS Ogamba also reminded the students that the University has trained and equiped them with requisite skills and knowledge required to serve the community.
“Now as you venture into the world of work, be ready to start with any opportunity that comes your way including volunteering to gain the necessary on-job experience. No experience is useless. It is a life-long learning process,” he said.
He challenged local universities to take keen interest in the industry’s ever-changing needs. He therefore, urged them to continuously review their curricula to ensure the graduates they produce every year seamlessly enter the job market.
Speaking about the Universities New Funding Model (NFM), introduced by the Government in 2023, the CS termed it student-centred, a complete departure from the Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) that used to allocate capitation to Universities for all students without taking into consideration the level of needs of the students.
He went fruther to explain that the new funding model was based on the recommendations contained in a report prepared by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform that had travelled country-wide collecting and collating views from Kenyans. He said, “in the new funding model, money follows a student and in the process, Universities receive money based on the number of students and the programmes they are pursuing. To better serve our University students, His Excellency the President, recently appointed a National Working Committee to collate views from the public to be used in refining the new funding model.”
He urged stakeholders to be patient and give the working committee time to come up with a report that will guide the Government on the next steps in regard to funding of Public Universities.
Addressing the teething problems that characterised the implementation of Competence Based Curriculum /Competence Based Education and Training (CBC/CBET), the CS noted that the issues have been resolved and that the Ministry of Education and all its agencies are handling any eventuality.
He explained that the Government has allocated KES17.6 billion for the completion of 16,000 classrooms in December, 2024 ready for use by the Grade 9 pupils early next year. “I urge the Universities to prepare well and understand the entry behaviour of CBC/CBET students they will be admitting in 2029. We expect the Universities to adjust accordingly to ensure the transition from high school will be seamless. It is clearly obvious that the mode of content delivery must change and conform to the expectations of CBC/CBET,” he said.
The CS praised TU-K for forming a Committee to prepare and advice in regards to curriculum reforms ahead of the arrival of CBC students. “I am glad to note that TU-K has already embarked on reviewing the current curricula and is designing other curricula to accommodate the three (3) career pathways: (i) Arts and Sports Science, (ii) Social Sciences, and (iii) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This is the way to go,” noted the CS.
