TVETs hold the key to the Singapore dream

KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer Agness Wahome interacting with parents and teachers during a career conference at KICC on Jan 28, 2026.[Juliet Omelo, Standard] Now, bring us up to speed. What exactly does KUCCPS do and where does it sit within the government? The placement service is a state corporation under the Ministry of Education. We are established under the Universities Act, with a mandate to coordinate the placement of government-sponsored students to universities and colleges in Kenya. Beyond placement, we are also mandated to develop and conduct career guidance in secondary schools. Another important role is that we are a repository of education data. We have placement data going as far back as 1989, when the first KCSE was done, and using this data, we advise the government on education and skills development policy. The need for career guidance is an issue you keep emphasising. With thousands of schools across the country, does this actually happen? Kenya has about 11,000 secondary schools, so realistically, we cannot physically visit every school. What we have done instead is to design a facilitator's guide for teachers. Our target is to reach teachers with the right information so that they can guide learners effectively. Where schools invite us, we do make an effort to visit, but we also encourage cluster approaches where we engage 10 or so schools at once, often over weekends. It's also important to distinguish career guidance from motivational talks. A motivational speaker talks about themselves and their journey. Career guidance, on the other hand, is about the child, who they are, what they enjoy, what they are good at, and how that aligns with opportunities. As you interact with students, do you refer to their feedback to advise the government on policy? We sit at a very interesting intersection. On one side, we engage policymakers, and on the other, we listen to learners. When we go to schools, we ask students what influences their career choices. Many will say they want to be doctors because that's what their parents want, or because a parent couldn't achieve that dream. Others are influenced by what they see in the media. From there, we guide them to reflect on passion, ability and aptitude. What makes you happy? What are you good at? Then we connect that to subjects, careers, and eventually the labour market locally and globally. All this information feeds back into our advisory role to the government. Let's talk numbers. How many students actually make it to university? In 2024, about 245,000 candidates attained C+ and above, out of roughly 900,000 who sat KCSE, about 26 percent. In 2025, around 270,000 out of nearly one million candidates qualified, which is about 27 percent. There has been a slight improvement, both in numbers and percentages. Is the grade still the key determinant for university admission? Yes, under the current system, it is. But this is a conversation that must start fading as we transition fully to CBE. We have overemphasised grades and university admission as the sole measure of success. Some learners start with certificates, move to diplomas and later join a university, yet their journeys are rarely celebrated. That still leaves over 700,000 learners each year who don't transition to public universities. Where do they go? Once we place students, I can account for about 300,000 who go to universities and TVETs. We now even place students with an E grade into TVET institutions. What we lack as a country is a centralised education data system. We don't comprehensively track learners across different pathways in public, private, TVET, or alternative systems. That is why, under the Ministry of Education, we are developing a Kenya Education Information Management System to track learners from basic education through tertiary levels. Our goal is to account for every learner. And this data gap affects economic planning too, doesn't it? Without centralised data, we cannot accurately plan for skills. For instance, how many plumbers do we need for affordable housing? How many electricians, engineers, or technicians? Other countries know these numbers and plan accordingly. We don't, and that's a big gap. How do you link education to labour market needs? We work closely with the Ministry of Labour and the National Employment Authority, which provide data on labour market trends, locally and internationally. We also analyse our own placement data to see which programmes students have been pursuing over the years. This informs enrollment, planning and career guidance. Singapore often comes up in these discussions. Why? Because Competency-Based Education made key education decisions in the 1980s that shaped its future. They aligned education to the economic goals of industrialisation, manufacturing, and skills development without importing labour. The shift to Competency-Based Education in Kenya is part of that same thinking. We are on the right path, even though change is uncomfortable. How different is CBE from 8-4-4 in practice? 8-4-4 was largely about recall. A child could score an A because they memorised content or tested well. CBE focuses on understanding, critical thinking and application. Parents with children in Grade 10 can already see the difference. These learners question, analyse and experiment. Our TVET institutions are actually ahead in this regard. Students spend about 30 percent of their time in class and the rest in industry, gaining hands-on skills. There's still concern about the 75 per cent who don't meet the university cut-off. Is this a failure of the system? Excellence should not be measured solely by grades. In Singapore, about 80 percent of learners go to TVET. In the region, the figure is 28 to 35 percent. Kenya fell as low as 11 per cent at one point but has now risen to about 27 percent. A healthy balance is around 30 percent university and 70 percent technical and vocational pathways. We also need to relax the obsession with C+. That pressure contributes to cheating and anxiety; skills matter. What is the relevance of placement exhibitions? We are holding exhibitions to expose learners to different opportunities before placement. Even students with an A can explore TVET modules as short as three months before deciding. Whether you scored an A or an E in skills training, everyone starts equal. TVET is not for failures; it is for those hungry for skills. What is the biggest challenge ahead? The problem is not the students, it's parents, politics and perceptions. We must trust the process. A learner who goes through TVET may be in the job market within two years, while others take six or more years in university. In the end, skills win. CBE, placement and career guidance are about helping learners discover who they are and where they fit in society. If we get that right, we secure not just their future, but the country's as well.

TVETs hold the key to the Singapore dream

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