Education department receives mechanical engineering equipment

Mandera County’s Ministry of Education today received state of the art mechanical technology engineering equipment worth Ksh120 million from the national government’s Ministry of Education. The government has so far equipped seventy technical training institutions (TTIs) across the country. Over the next five months, the government will embark on training personnel on the use and maintenance of the equipment.

Built by the Mandera county government, Mandera Technical Training Institute has so far admitted 284 students who are pursuing electrical, wielding and fabrication, secretarial, human resource management and accounting courses among others. The students enjoy full sponsorship by the county government. In this financial year, Governor Roba’s administration has allocated Ksh10 million for full sponsorship for students who will be joining MTTI.

While receiving the donation, Mandera County Education chief officer Abdi Mohamed immensely appreciated the effort of the national government in complementing the county’s development efforts and strategies to plug the gaps in capacity building among the youth. He stated the donation would go a long way in upgrading skills and abilities of youth.
Equipping youth for the job market is a critical intervention that will help strengthen the County’s education and skills base, supporting the transition towards a modern market-based economy and promoting inclusive growth and job creation. In particular, it will advance national and county aspirations for the technical, vocational education and training (TVET) aimed at effectively meeting Mandera’s evolving workforce needs.
The multi-million shillings donation from the government is expected to boost technical training and equip the students with the current technology skills.

Through devolution, Mandera County is witnessing rapid transformation. The county government has strategically invested in tertiary institutions with target to churn out skilled group of locals to fit its unique circumstances with a Teacher’s Training College to bridge the gaps occasioned by teachers who fled on grounds of terror fears and extreme weather. The college, which was established in May 2016, initially admitted 47 holiday-based students in August the same year. In September 2016, the college witnessed significant improvement and admitted 55 regular students. Later in 2017, the number of students gradually improved with 26 more joining under the full sponsorship of Mandera County Government.
While handing over the equipment Mr. Samuel Kiptoo from Directorate of TVET, Ministry of Education said the donation of the equipment is under the Kenya-China Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Project. He was flanked by immediate former Director TVET, Mr.Bahir Mursal.

The event was also graced by the Deputy County Commissioner Mandera East Lawrence Omondi, County Assembly Majority Leader Hon. Abdi Adan, Minority Leader Hon. Jimale Abdi, Chairman of the County Assembly Education committee Yakub Eymoi and senior county government officials.