On June 6th, this year, Kwale Welfare and Education Association (KWEA) will hold the Kwale County Annual Career Exhibition at Kingwede Secondary School in Msambweni Sub-county. The event, which will be graced by Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya, will be the third one since KWEA initiated the programme in June 2013.
The first career fair was held at Kwale High School while last year, Matuga Girls High School hosted the event which brought together secondary and post-secondary school students to mingle with professionals, scholars, educationists and employers - both from the public and private sectors.
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His excellency the governor Kwale County Salim Mvurya Planting a tree during KWEAs career exhibition at Kwale Boys |
The purpose of the event which happens in June every year since 2013 is to provide learners with the tools and resources to make important and valuable career decisions. During the career fair, participants will take their first steps toward meaningful employment by meeting with reputable career advisors, employers and role models in various fields face to face to exchange information.
Resource persons will be informing students on what they will need to know about career paths, employer expectations and professional opportunities. Regardless of the courses participants have majored in, year in college, or future goals, there are numerous benefits to attending the forthcoming career fair. These include but not limited to:-
• Networking – enabling you to establish important contacts.
• Learn more about careers and potential opportunities.
• Learn about Cooperative Education and Internship opportunities.
• Increase participants’ chances of getting an interview with a potential employer.
• Sharpen participants’ job search skills and practice good communication skills to mention but a few.
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students visiting stands to seek career guidance during KWEAS 2nd Annual career exhibition |
KWEA’s Annual Career Exhibition is among a series of activities the organization has invested in to uplift the standards of education in Kwale and establish a brain bank of human capital to help address the limited supply of professionals in numerous fields including engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants among other professionals.
The need to attain the high level of professionalism in Kwale is informed by myriad factors including the availability of enormous mineral wealth such as titanium, niobium, coal and other rare earths which would prove beneficial to the county if it had adequate skilled human and intellectual resources.
The event will also provide a forum for students who may not have acquired the requisite grades to benefit from the prestigious universities’ Joint Admission Board (JAB) to have a one-on-one conversation with career ad-visors on how best they can utilize the hitherto “low” grades to climb over useful career ladders and achieve their lifetime ambitions which eluded them when they never qualified for admission to university.
Technical trades such as electrical installation, plumbing, woodwork and masonry are some of the most profitable careers in the developing economies yet many students still perceive them more as opportunities left for academic dwarfs.
This unfortunate perception needs the intervention of professionals such as the ones that KWEA has lined up to engage students with a view to changing their attitude against stereotypical beliefs and also help them build confidence and self-esteem.Some of the institutions that are anticipated to participate in the career fair are the University of Nairobi, Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) Taita Taveta University College, Moi University, Kenyata University, Kenya Medical Training College among other local and national institutions of higher learning.
Employers will include Kwale County Service Board, Base Titanium, KISCOL, Kenya Bixa, Equity Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, Barclays Bank and a host of principals of secondary schools drawn from all the four sub-counties.Others will be beneficiaries of the previous career fairs conducted by KWEA and secondary and post-secondary students from various local and national institutions.
Other activities KWEA organizes annually include KWEA Annual Charity Walk and KWEA Annual Book Collection. Other activities the organization engages which have had considerable impact in education are weekly motivational talks conducted in sampled primary and secondary schools and provision of sanitary towels to the girls in primary schools.
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Students of Mkongani Primary School happy after receiving sanitary towels from KWEA |
KWEA’s latest venture dubbed Kwale Girls Project which is implemented jointly by the Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW) and Build Africa-Kenya is currently being undertaken in 72 schools in various zones in Kinango, Lunga-Lunga and Msambweni Sub-counties.
By , Maisha Poa.