At the opening of the World Skills Kenya National Competition Final on Monday 19th August, Huawei Kenya announced its sponsorship for the event and support for training students in 5 tracks.
World Skills Kenya is led by Director General of TVET Authority, Dr. Kipkirui Langat, and is taking place this week at Kenya School of TVET, as part of the international competition. The national competition was opened by Cabinet Secretary for Education, Hon. Julius Ogamba, and attended by PS for TVET, Dr Esther Muoria amongst other dignitaries and partners including the International Labor Organisation, UNESCO, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, KCB Bank amongst others.
Hon. Julius Ogamba, Cabinet Secretary for Education emphasized the value that World Skills brings noting that “each participant will have the opportunity to learn from international best practices and gain invaluable insights to enrich their skills. Participants will engage in practical simulations, problem solving exercises and collaborative projects that highlight the transformative capabilities of their skills.”
Dr Esther Muoria, the Principal Secretary for the State Department of TVET spoke in her remarks to emphasize that “We are here, making a statement to the World that we are coming up with the requisite skills; the world should be here, investing in Kenya because we have pools of skilled people.”
Dr Edwin Tarno, CEO of KS TVET thanked Huawei on behalf of the Kenyan government and the TVET institutions: “it will help us expand our training [to support] the ICT sector in Kenya, including Artificial Intelligence and all the aspects that are used in technical education”.
During the event Huawei also officially handed over a plaque to Kenya School of TVET (KSTVET), having recently signed an agreement for the School to be an ICT Academy Support Centre (IASC).
This entails Huawei support for KS TVET lecturers, trainers and equipment so KSTVET can in turn train
TVET lecturers and trainers across the country. Speaking at the ceremony, Adam Lane, Director of Government Affairs at Huawei Kenya noted that: “We currently work with 10 National Polytechnics and have trained 20 lecturers, who in turn have trained 280+ students, but we believe we need to do more and the partnerships with World Skills Kenya and KS TVET will help us expand our training programs nationwide, providing critical ICT skills for youth”.
As the technological space continues to evolve, we get to witness new technological innovations coming up. Those that are in existence, being upgraded in many forms. This call for the personnel who are trained in the different fields to continue learning and adapting to the changes. It is therefore important to invest in the youth who are the workforce on the different trends of technology in the world today, through capacity building initiatives.
Last year, Huawei supported 2 tracks (IT Networking & Cybersecurity) and provided further training for the winner to be better prepared for the global final in September 2024. This year, Huawei is providing training for 5 tracks in the World Skills Kenya National Competition: IT Networking, Cybersecurity, IT software, Information Network cabling, and Mobile Applications Development. Huawei is also providing internet for the training facilities and providing Switches & Routers for training. In addition to partnering with KS TVET as an IASC, Huawei has begun to expand this partnership to be even bigger, collaborating with TVETA and Konza on the Jitume Project – not only on training, but also providing smart classroom and internet solutions in 2 TVETs in Kakamega.
Also Read: Moringa School to Start Offering CompTIA’s Cyber Security Analyst Course