REPURPOSING AND REPOSITIONING TVET EDUCATION ECOSYSTEM

Governments are increasingly introducing, adapting and adopting the philosophy of “heritage based education” as the anchor of innovation and as a way of promoting agriculture for industrialization and driving economic development. The African Union, UNESCO, the European Union, and the United Nations acknowledge that formal educational systems alone cannot respond adequately to rapid and constant social, technological, and economic change in society and that they should be reinforced by non-formal educational practices. Heritage learning is a processes that aims to establish relationships with features belonging to the culture of a particular society. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) plays an important role in the coping phase, intermediate phase, and the post-COVID19 phase. As the TVET curriculum is majorly practical based, it becomes difficult for TVET institutions to cope with such disruptions as visited by the COVID 19 containment measures. Therefore, there is an urgent need to reposition TVET with new approaches and solutions to the challenges facing the continent, chief of them being the high unemployment amongst the youth. As the rate of technological change accelerate, Africa finds itself at the mercy of technological giants with little or no role to play. Africa has become a mere consumers of these technologies. There is need for TVET teaching and learning to go beyond the binary approach. A more complex, inclusive, nuanced view incorporating multiple factors, including epistemology, ontology, and heritage based educational philosophies are required. Furthermore, andragogies, platforms, contexts, practices, research, innovation and, industrialisation should be synthesised to repurpose and reposition Africa TVET education ecosystem to address national needs while applying Indigenous Knowledge Systems to local challenges. Africa cannot manage or improve its circumstances if we do not control and measure our outputs. A well-constructed, structured and fully adopted research, innovation and industrialisation barometer and policy for Africa, would guide the continent to support the right research, technologies and innovation by the right people, in the right places, and for the right reasons. This is why ATUPA has seen it fitting for its 2022 annual international conference to have discussions and presentations of researched conference papers on the theme “Repurposing and Repositioning TVET Education Ecosystem Post-COVID 19 through Heritage Based Education”.

SUB THEMES

• Resilient Greening of TVET to Mitigate Climate Change in Africa
• TVET Redesign and Reconfiguring for Resilient and Sustainable Skills Training post-Covid19
• Role of TVET in Anchoring Africa’s Innovation and Industrialisation Agenda in Africa’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems and International Best Practices
• Ending Stigma, Discrimination and Marginalization of Persons with Disabilities in Africa’s TVET Ecosystem
• Growing the Enrolment of Women in TVET Programmes in Africa through Innovative Resources Allocation
• Building Resilient and Sustainable Agro-business in Africa through A-TVET for Food Security and Economic Development

CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES
The key objectives of the conference are to:

• bring together the African TVET trainers, regulator, the employers, the civil society and the donor community for a dialogue on how to build back better post-Covid19;
• gather TVET thought leaders to examine the role of indigenous knowledge and practices in driving Africa’s human development;
• make a case for increased enrolment of people living with disabilities, women and the youth in technical and vocational skills development ;
• stress the importance of conservation of the natural world by supporting the blue, green and the orange economy;

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE
To ensure a very successful outcome of the conference, an organizing committee is constituted, comprised of members of the Associations’ Secretariat and some key partners. The conference is organized to include:

• The main conference featuring keynote addresses, panel discussions and research paper presentations on the conference theme and other cross-cutting issues
• The Fourth Pan-African Youth Forum for TVET Students, hosted in partnership with the Africa Union Commission, Startup Africa PLC and BUSINESS Africa.
• Finals for the Pitch-Africa 2022 Talent & Innovation Competition and Awards for TVET Students
• A forum of the women in technical education and training and development (WITED)
• A virtual Careers fair / exhibition showcasing TVET jobs, industrial technologies and R&D innovations by sponsors and industry/private sector partners, training institutions and research institutes
• The General Assembly of heads of ATUPA member institutions.

For more information:
Please visit the website: www.capa-sec.org or contact The Secretary General, CAPA-ATUPA, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel.: +254-20-3343672