The Principal Secretary State Department of Vocational and Technical Training, Ministry of Education in Kenya, Dr. Julius Jwan recently visited the Regional Flagship TVET Institute for Textile Technology (RFTITT) to assess the implementation status of the EASTRIP project. This move has given the institution an edge to becoming the best Vocational and Technical Training centre not only in Textile Technology but in entirety to other technical programs.
“RFTITT has made big milestones in accomplishing its tasks over a short period of time”, said Dr. Juan during this visit.
During this Implementation status visit, the RFTITT Centre Director, Dr. Charles Nyangara, highlighted that the RFTITT has three main components and is currently operating at Component One which is Strengthening of Governance and Management. As part of this, the Labour Market Information Survey report was launched.
“This is the key to success of any project and so an emphasis has been made to this effect. RFTITT has already awarded several consultancies such as the Labor Market Information Survey which is information about the current economic and employment situation”, said Dr. Nyangara.
The report includes data on graduate destinations, average starting salaries, current trends in employment sectors and recruitment patterns. Others include the graduate tracer study to do a follow up on the graduate employment status and the training needs assessment which includes the identification of missing training needs by both the trainers and trainees. The report informs the need to review and improve the curricular offered at The Kisumu National Polytechnic (TKNP) and need for retooling of Faculty on emerging labour needs.
In acknowledging the support from the National Steering Committee, the World Bank and the Regional Facilitating Unit (RFU), IUCEA to The RFTITT, the Centre Manager, Chief Principal Ms. Catherine Kelonye committed full institutional support for implementation and regional advancement of textile technologies by The RFTITT.
The Principal said, “Textile technical skills advancement is a sure way of ensuring economic growth and regional integration. TKNP commits to take a central position in advancing this initiative.”