The government is set to roll out textile and apparel skills enhancement programmes in 15 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions across the country with the aim of solving youth unemployment.
Principal Secretary State Department for TVET, Dr. Esther Thaara Muoria, said the textile and apparel skills enhancement programme ensures the youths are trained in specific skill areas and with key competencies.
Muoria said the programme had been broken into micro-credentials to ensure that a trainee gets absolute training in a specific skill area and graduates within the shortest time possible so as to venture into employment or entrepreneurship.
Speaking during a consultative forum with TVET principals drawn from 15 TVET institutions across the country, Dr. Muoria said that the textile and apparel skills enhancement programme will be piloted in the 15 TVET institutions.
Dr. Muoria disclosed that despite the available job opportunities in the industry, there is a huge skills gap in the sector, adding that the department was partnering with the Sainath Education Institute to ensure that the youth were trained in fashion and design to enable them to take up the available jobs.
The implementation of the textile and apparel skills enhancement programme is set to kick off at the end of March in Nairobi and Mombasa and later spread to other regions across the country within six to eight months.
By Justus Anzaya
