AfriPulse
Students graduating from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions will no longer be required to wear academic gowns during graduation ceremonies.
Education Principal Secretary in charge of TVET Institutions, Esther Muoria, on Friday, April 18, announced the changes, instructing all TVET institutions to adopt discipline-specific attire that reflects their practical skills.
Under the new guidelines, graduates will don uniforms aligned with their areas of training, mechanics in overalls, chefs in culinary gear and other trainees in appropriate professional outfits.
According to Muoria, the move is intended to make graduates easily identifiable by their specialities to showcase the practical nature of TVET institutions.
PS Tvet Esther Muoria at Mukiria Technical Training Institute during its 3rd Graduation Ceremony on February 6, 2026
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Esther Muoria
She noted that the long-standing use of the black academic graduation gowns, mainly copied from universities, does not represent the technical and vocational focus of these institutions
“Going forward, we are not going to be graduating our graduates in gowns like we have been doing. Gowns are academic, and we are technical,” said Muoria.
“So, graduands in the different technical departments will henceforth graduate in their respective work attire. Mechanics will wear overalls, and chefs will wear the chef’s uniform,” she added.
Graduation gowns have been widely used in many institutions, including universities and colleges, across the world, symbolising academic achievement.
In Kenya, graduation gowns are often black and paired with caps and colored hoods and given to students who have completed a course.
However, this could change for all technical institutions in Kenya following PS Muoria’s directive during the 6th graduation ceremony at Nyeri National Polytechnic.
Besides the change in dressing code, the PS revealed plans to modernise infrastructure in TVETs, equip institutions with up-to-date training tools and expand staffing to meet the growing demand.
To match the tremendous growth in student population from 350,000 in 2022 to the current 850,000 students, Muoria said that the State will this year recruit 1,000 additional trainers.
Taita Taveta National Polytechnic participating in a practical lesson.
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Taita Taveta National Polytechnic
Source: Kenyans.co.ke | Read the Full Story…
