Keypoints:
- Kenya proposes KSh58.5bn ($451.8m) for TVET
- Ghana’s $300m programme links education to jobs
- South Africa reports a preliminary enrolment decline
AFRICA’S technical education drive is moving at sharply different speeds. Kenya has placed vocational training near the centre of its 2026/27 budget plans, Ghana is linking secondary education more closely to employment, while South Africa faces mounting pressure on public TVET college enrolment.
The contrast matters because the continent’s employment challenge is not simply a shortage of jobs. It also reflects the limited ability of education systems to equip young people with practical skills that match the needs of changing industries.
Kenya backs TVET expansion
In his June 11 Budget Statement, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi proposed KSh58.5bn ($451.8m) for technical and vocational education and training during the 2026/27 fiscal year.
The proposed allocation formed part of a KSh784.5bn ($6.06bn) education envelope presented to Parliament. The subsequently approved budget placed total education spending at KSh781.3bn ($6.03bn).
The investment strengthens Kenya’s effort to connect training with construction, manufacturing, renewable energy and other labour-intensive sectors.
It also reflects a broader attempt to make technical education a credible alternative to university study, rather than a route chosen mainly by students unable to enter traditional degree programmes.
Funding alone, however, will not guarantee results. Colleges still need modern equipment, qualified instructors, strong industry partnerships and reliable routes from workshops into paid employment.
The real test will be whether the investment produces graduates with skills that employers need and are prepared to reward.
Ghana links learning to jobs
Ghana’s latest intervention is broader than a stand-alone TVET programme. On June 16, the World Bank approved $300m for the Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs project, known as STARR-J.
The programme is expected to support 2.2m students across almost 1,000 public secondary schools. It will expand learning spaces, improve teaching and promote employment-focused programmes, particularly within technical and vocational pathways.
The entire $300m should not be presented as dedicated TVET financing. It is a wider secondary education reform programme with a significant skills and employment component.
The initiative responds to Ghana’s growing need to prepare young people for work while expanding access to secondary education.
The World Bank estimates that public secondary schools could face a shortage of more than 850,000 effective places by 2040 without further intervention.
South Africa faces enrolment pressure
South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training oversees 50 public TVET colleges.
An official parliamentary response shows that the colleges enrolled 560,446 students in 2024/25, exceeding the government’s target of 482,244.
For 2025/26, preliminary enrolment stood at 432,505 against a target of 480,547, leaving a shortfall of 48,042.
The department cautioned that validation across all colleges was still under way. The figure should therefore not be treated as the final enrolment total.
Officials identified the fiscal environment as the main constraint. Annual budget increases of about four to five percent have been overtaken by higher costs for equipment, training materials and staff compensation.
That pressure coincides with a severe employment crisis. Statistics South Africa placed the national unemployment rate at 32.7 percent in the first quarter of 2026.
The rate reached 60.9 percent among people aged 15 to 24 and 40.6 percent among those aged 25 to 34.
Investment must deliver jobs
Across the region, governments increasingly recognise that practical skills are central to economic growth.
What remains uneven is the funding, institutional capacity and employer involvement needed to turn training into durable employment.
Kenya’s budget proposal signals political intent, while Ghana’s programme addresses classroom access and employability. South Africa’s experience shows how fiscal pressure can constrain enrolment planning and programme delivery.
Africa’s skills drive will ultimately be judged not by budget announcements or enrolment targets, but by completion rates, workplace placements and the number of graduates securing productive jobs.
