CBE and TVET give Rift Valley youth more than one route to success

For many young people in the Rift Valley, education is increasingly becoming about more than passing examinations. It is about discovering talents, gaining practical skills and finding a path that can lead to employment, entrepreneurship or further learning.

The shift to Competency-Based Education (CBE) is changing how learners are guided through school, while Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is providing practical options for those looking to build careers outside the traditional university route.

Under CBE, learners are encouraged to develop their abilities and interests rather than follow a single academic path.

At Senior School, learners can choose from STEM, Social Sciences, and Arts and Sports Science pathways depending on their strengths and ambitions.

For parents such as Sammy Silim, a farmer from Sorwot, the change is visible through his own children.

Having gone through the 8-4-4 system himself, Sammy says his children have had opportunities to progress further into colleges and pursue different areas of interest.

He believes early guidance can make education more meaningful because children can begin developing skills around what they enjoy and what they hope to become.

Sammy also says parents have a role to play by paying attention to their children's talents at home and supporting them early.

Betty Waheto, a trader and parent from Kericho County, says the new system is helping children think about their future at an earlier age.

With children in Grade 6 and Grade 9, Betty says she has seen the difference through her own child, who has already expressed an ambition to become a doctor and is focusing on sciences.

She believes this kind of early direction can help learners understand why they are studying particular subjects and make the transition from school to employment more purposeful.

For Betty, education is gradually moving away from simply completing school and towards preparing young people for specific opportunities.

The shift does not end in school. Across the Rift Valley, TVET institutions are giving young people opportunities to acquire practical skills in areas such as engineering, construction, ICT, agriculture, automotive technology, hospitality and manufacturing.

Institutions such as The Eldoret National Polytechnic, Rift Valley National Polytechnic in Nakuru and technical colleges across the region are creating alternative routes for young people who may not immediately pursue university education.

Benson Shitakwa says Kericho Township Technical and Vocational College has made technical training more accessible to young people in the area.

Before the college was established, he says some families struggled to send their children to distant institutions because of transport and other costs.

The college has brought diploma, certificate and craft courses closer to learners in Kericho and surrounding areas.

He says the institution has also given young people who might otherwise remain idle an opportunity to gain skills and improve their chances of finding work or creating their own opportunities.

The growing focus on competencies and technical training points to a broader change in Kenya's education system.

Instead of treating university as the main destination after secondary school, learners are increasingly being presented with different routes based on their abilities and ambitions.

This approach is also supported by investment in education infrastructure and human resources.

Nationally, more than 23,000 classrooms have been constructed, while more than 1,600 science laboratories are being developed and equipped.

The government has also recruited 100,000 additional teachers, including 76,000 deployed to support Junior Schools.

For families across the Rift Valley, the goal is ultimately practical: an education system that helps young people understand their strengths, develop useful skills and turn those abilities into livelihoods.