• Geothermal Training Centre (GTC) was recently selected by the World Bank as one of the 16 Regional Flagship Technical Institutes in Eastern Africa
• Its flagship courses are geothermal, oil and gas, making it a critical player in the industrial expansion and development of the country and the regional at large
Image: COURTESY
KenGen Geothermal Training Centre is tucked away 99km northwest of Nairobi in the lush tourism destination of Naivasha in Nakuru county, between undulating hills and valleys surrounded by lakes, flora and fauna. It is a giant of sorts, standing nonchalantly on hectares of manicured lawns bordering scenic water bodies teeming with an assortment of birds and other aquatic life.
On this windy morning, the East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (Eastrip) is on monitoring mission to the KenGen GTC, accompanied by a team from the World Bank.
Eastrip is financed by the World Bank as well as the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Tanzanian governments with a view to increasing access to TVET programmes. This will enable the enrolment of more students in regional TVET institutes. The institutes have programmes aimed at meeting the skills needs of priority sectors, including manufacturing transport, infrastructure, power, energy, information and communication technology (ICT).
GTC’s flagship courses are geothermal, oil and gas, making it a critical player in the industrial expansion and development of the country and the regional at large.
The national project coordinator, Nelson Gitau, says, “Eastrip facilitates regional integration by providing a regional platform to promote the exchange of policies and practices, students and faculty mobility and the harmonisation of occupational standards and qualifications.”
He says the project emphasises on achieving its objectives, which include increased access to TVET education, improving the quality of TVET programmes in the RFTIs and supporting regional integration in the Easter African region.
TVET is a crucial engine for development and employment in the Eastern Africa region and Africa as a whole. It has its supply and demand side, which should be constantly be in motion to satisfy our industry needs.
It, therefore, goes without saying that digital marketing techniques are pertinent in transforming TVET into modern learning institutions, churning out skilled graduates to be absorbed into the industrial sector to keep the development wheel rolling.
“By doing this, the project will have more success and favourable effect on the sector’s net growth rate by increasing access to TVET programmes through student enrolment in order to meet the skills needs of priority sector.”
Following the adoption of the regional TVET Qualification Framework, countries in Eastern Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, have started collaborating on TVET.
Days are gone when Kenya’s TVET were characterised with a low quality of training occasioned by inadequate instructor training, obsolete training equipment and lack of instructional materials.
GTC senior geologist Risper Kandie says the institution has up-skilled their tutors in line with the objectives of Eastrip.
She adds that accessibility of TVET programmes, which is one of the deliverables, is on course as they have met their target on female students’ enrolment for short-term courses.
“We had targeted to enrol 40 students, and we still believe we will have them sooner than we expected,” she quips, adding that they have enrolled 40 regional students on short-term courses against a target of 55 and a baseline of 30.
Kandie says there is no credible challenge in GTC’s female enrolment since “we have not completed the upgrade of our training facilities”.
The institute’s performance in improving quality and relevance of its flagship courses is high. Its graduate employment rate is six months after graduation, which earns it an achievement rate of 100 per cent as of June. Female graduates also are ahead of the pack as they are employed within six months of graduation.
In its efforts to improve quality and relevance, GTC is on course in its graduate employment rate within a span of six months after graduating. This is also the case for its female graduates who secure employment opportunities not more than six months after graduating.
In tandem with Eastrip objectives, GTC is trailblazing in the development of demand-driven programmes by coming up with nine programmes against a target of six, amounting to 150 per cent performance by June.
The status of implementation of the construction of its flagship Oil, Gas and Geothermal project, GTC is facing some delays but it is on course to beat the deadline in the first quarter of next year.
“We are fast-tracking the construction to be completed within the contract period,” says Kizito Michael, the man in charge of the project at GTC.
The college is doing well in outreach activities, such as mentorship, upskilling of trainers, knowledge exchange forums and training on pedagogy by the Kenya School of TVET.
All said and done, the project is a driver of the national socioeconomic goals as enshrined in Vision 2030, bottom-up economic model and the National Education Sector Strategic Plan (NESSP).
Eastrip deputy national coordinator Archer Arina says they seek to increase access to TVET programmes as student enrolment is set to increase at regional TVET institutes in programmes aimed at meeting the skill needs of priority sectors. These include manufacturing, transport, infrastructure, power, energy and ICT.