Government defends TVET Modularisation says tuition fees capped at 35,000 shillings per module
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 5 – The Ministry of Education has championed the new Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Modularisation Programme, as the cornerstone of national workforce development, asserting the shift toward flexible, competency-based units is successfully dismantling financial barriers for students.
By breaking down traditional multi-year courses into shorter, stackable modules, the government claims the reform not only reduces the immediate cost of tuition but also allows learners to enter the job market sooner with industry-recognized certifications.
Principal Secretary TVET Dr. Esther Muoria while speaking at a press conference in Nairobi said that the cost of Level 3 training under the modular system has been capped at Sh35,000, covering tuition, training materials and institutional assets.
The PS has reiterated that with the modularisation era, students in TVETs will be subjected to a formative and not summative system, where students will be trained and examined in stages and will only be proven to succeed after being trained to perfection in a particular field of study.
“In TVETs, we only have written exams in five and six and a bit in level 4, In levels 3 and 4, we have an assessment going on as you train in what we call coming up with a portfolio of evidence Examination of our students is formative and not summative, meaning that if a student is trained in a certain field, the student should be trained to perfection and be proven to succeed,” Muoria said.
Additionally, She addressed confusion regarding the potential financial burden on students, emphasizing that the combination of government scholarships and HELB loans continues to provide a safety net pointing out that the most recent disbursement of capitation for technical colleges was processed just last week to ensure uninterrupted learning.
According to the evaluation, the initiative shifts the focus from traditional, pressure-filled testing toward a model of persistent skill mastery, ensuring that students are not judged by a single performance but by their ability to consistently apply knowledge in real-world.
She emphasized that collaborations with industry leaders are bridging the gap between theory and practice, ensuring graduates enter the workforce with market-ready skills.
Further, Dr. Muoria countered suggestions of a top-down approach, maintaining that the curriculum overhaul was the result of extensive town hall meetings and feedback loops involving faculty, parents and local administrators to ensure broad-based consensus.
She highlighted a sharp rise in enrolment, noting that TVET student numbers have grown from about 300,000 to more than 850,000 since the current administration took office, driven by strong government backing of skills-based education.
The ministry has said that the students will be trained in independent modules, each focused on specific competencies. Learners complete and certify one module before progressing to the next, a model intended to speed up skills acquisition and entry into the job market.
The reforms seeks to cultivate a flexible, cost-effective vocational framework that prioritizes the student experience while ensuring educational outcomes are directly synchronized with evolving industry demands.
“By bridging the gap between the classroom and the workplace, these reforms aim to foster a sustainable pipeline of workforce-ready talent”.
