In the last decade, the County Government has invested heavily in EDCE infrastructure. Over 818 Permanent class rooms have constructed and more will be completed by the end of 2023/24 FY. This is an achievement of 71% of having at least one modern classroom in the 1153 ECDE centers in the County. Upon attainment of the target, the County will embark on phase two with an intention of attaining two classrooms per centre.
In the Vocational training section, 9 new VTCs were constructed and rehabilitation of the 13 existing institutions. The county invested over Kshs 25 in acquisition of modern tools and equipment and will continue in the same path going forward. To boost uptake of courses in VTCs, bursaries are available to all trainees in the county which covers 60% of the tuition fee. Enrollment increased from 526 trainees in 2013 to 1379 in 2023. The aim is to enroll over 5,000 trainees by 2028.
Going forward, we have started making at least on VTC to be a centre of excellence in one trade area in every sub county. Already, centre of excellence in hospitality is coming up at Marigat VTC while Baringo VTC in Kabarnet will be centre of excellence in motor vehicle technology.
The challenge still remains to be high wage bill that limits the county from employing adequate number of instructors and also to sufficiently remunerate the ECDE teachers whose number stands at 1617 as at July 2023 among the highest teaching force per county in the country at large.