The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Hon. Dr Amina Mohamed has challenged academic institutions to increase their intake in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) courses.
Speaking during the 15th convocation ceremony of the Aga Khan University (AKU) Dr Mohamed said this will help bridge the unemployment gap by equipping students with practical skills that can help in entrepreneurship.
“We must nurture an education system that focuses on the individual and prepares them adequately for the world of work, but also that encourages them to pursue lifelong learning,” Dr Mohamed said. “These courses will produce the competencies we need to transform our country into a newly industrialising middle-income country.”
Sixty-eight graduates were awarded degrees in various disciplines: 13 graduated with a Diploma in Oncology Nursing, 24 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 18 with a Master of Medicine and 13 with a Master of Education degree.
AKU has awarded more than 1,200 degrees and diplomas in Kenya and more than 3,000 in East Africa. The university’s professional development programmes have equipped another 900 Kenyan educators with new strategies for enhancing teaching and learning, thus benefitting 67,000 students.
The University and its fellow agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network are also working with government health facilities to improve health of 135,000 women and girls in Kilifi and Kisii counties.
“We are contributing to a major international study designed to determine why more than one million women and children in Africa die from various pregnancy complications every year,” said AKU President Firoz Rasul. “At the same time that we are building capacity and generating new knowledge, our health network is growing and evolving to meet Kenya’s changing needs.”
Two teachers were also awarded the Alumni Leadership for Education by Aga Khan University (AKU). Dr Anthony Maina Gioko, the vice principal for Professional Development and Outreach at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, and Elijah Ogoti, a teacher at Saint Theresa Tartar Girls School in West Pokot County, were recognised for their outstanding leadership in teaching. Both are graduates of AKU’s Institute for Educational Development.
“We are extremely proud that these two AKU graduates have been recognised nationally and internationally as among the best in their field,” said President Rasul. “They are clear evidence that our alumni are ‘a powerful light’ – as our Chancellor, His Highness the Aga Khan, described them three decades ago.”
“I urge my peers to become learning teachers,” Dr Gioko said, “because every teaching moment is a learning moment.”
The convocation ceremony was attended by graduating students, their parents, faculty and staff members.
