State rolls out project to give jua kali artisans certificates

The government has rolled out a project whereby people with technical skills will be issued certificates despite their educational backgrounds to employ more people.

Principal Secretary for Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Esther Mworia, said the move will help artisans get jobs in government or private institutions, irrespective of their academic achievements.

She observed that the government policy is now geared towards promoting artisan jobs where thousands of young people have the opportunity to make their livelihoods through the bottom-up approach.

“We have so many skilled youths across the country who diligently and efficiently perform skilled work and they have no credentials. We will issue them with certificates so that they can even benefit from the government’s skilled labour exportation programme,” Mworia said.

The PS, accompanied by Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a, spoke during a graduation ceremony for over 3,000 trainees at the Thika Technical Training Institute (TTI) who attained diplomas and certificates in various technical fields including electrical engineering, mechanics, welding and plumbing. At the same time, Mworia said the government will build a new technical training college in Thika Constituency, Kiambu County, so as to create more opportunities for artisan jobs.

This, she added, will also ease congestion at the facility which currently has a population of more than 16,000 students.