By Balarabe Abdullahi Kiru
The Kano State Government has reaffirmed its commitment to partnering with UNESCO and the Republic of Korea on technical and vocational education through the Better Education for Africa’s Rise (BEAR III) project.
The State Commissioner of Education Dr. Ali Haruna Makoda gave the assurance Wednesday, during a meeting with technical team of the project which took place at his office.
Dr. Ali Haruna represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Alhaji Bashir Baffa Muhammed noted that the BEAR III project objectives aligned with present administration policies of empowering youth with practical, market- relevant skills that foster innovation and job creation.
He disclosed that as the meeting intends to examine reports on crop value chains and institutional capacity assessment, Kano State will stand at a better chance to benefit from the report outcome.
Dr. Makoda said the support given by UNESCO and the Government of the Republic of Korea to Kano in strengthening technical and vocational education training (TVET) remains a clear demonstration of their effort to enhancing economic activities in the state.
The Commissioner observed that the Technical and Vocational Education Training program has not been limited to education alone, but covered areas of empowering young people, strengthening their livelihood and ensuring sustainable economic growth
” Kano State Government is therefore ready to work with this project under UNESCO and Republic of Korea to enhance technical and vocational training more especially among our students of technical colleges ” he stated.
He expressed confidence that with expertise at the meeting, a clear consensus would be reached on the priority crops to be used for agro processing program and the appropriate institutions for the project implementation.
Presenting the project overview and update from the last meeting, the project regional coordinator of BEAR III Manish Joshi said the overall objective of the project is to equip young people with technical and generic skills to access decent employment through strengthened TVET system.
Manish outlined some implementation updates of the project which includes among others; completion of the needs assessment of all technical colleges, conduct of seminar on improving work based learning and apprenticeship for agriculture produce and technology as well as conduct of strategic roundtable on career guidance and counseling.
In her remark, the Director Technology and Science Education, Federal Ministry of Education Dr. Olodo M.A noted that the meeting is more than about review report but to align the effort of the technical team to create resolution that would strengthen skill, transform agriculture and open opportunities for young people.
The Executive Secretary National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) Professor Idris M. Bugaje represented by Prof. Diyauddeen Basheer Hasan said the Board is very keen at developing capacity of the beneficiaries through the use of the right curriculums that are applicable to Kano State.
” One good thing that I want to share with you is that we are looking more in to seeing developed curriculum in some certain areas which are much applicable to Kano, areas where we lay more emphasis on irrigation ” he stated.
