Written by Kayla Makena
Another Path, Not a Lesser One.
Growing up in Kenya, many of us were taught that education is everything and that success looks a certain way. Education meant books, good grades and big careers like lawyers, doctors, and engineers. If you said any of these, the family smiled with pride. If you didn’t, you were often told to “aim higher.”
But as the world changes, it’s time we talk honestly about what success really looks like.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is often misunderstood. Many see it as a “last option” or a path for children who didn’t perform well academically. In truth, TVET is not about failure. It focuses on hands-on, practical learning that prepares young people for real life and real work.
TVET trains learners to do. From plumbing, electrical work, mechanics, and carpentry to fashion, beauty, hospitality, catering, and digital skills, these are skills that build confidence, independence, and livelihoods. Not every child learns best through textbooks and exams. Some learn best by creating, building, and working with their hands and TVET gives them space to feel seen.
What does success really mean?
A child doesn’t have to be a doctor to be successful.
Take the beauty industry, for example. It is booming. Hair stylists, makeup artists, nail technicians, and beauty entrepreneurs are building brands, employing others, and becoming financially independent, some even millionaires. Many of these journeys began with a skill.
The same is true for fashion designers, chefs, electricians, photographers, mechanics, and digital technicians. These are not “small jobs.” They are essential, respected, and economically powerful.
Yet many times, children are discouraged from following these paths. Sometimes, parents project their own dreams onto their children, hoping for impressive titles rather than fulfilled lives. While this comes from love, it can silence a child’s true strengths.
Under Kenya’s CBC system, the idea is clear: children are different. Some are academic, some creative, some technical. Whether a child chooses STEM, Arts and Sports Science, Social Sciences, or TVET, every path matters and leads to opportunity.
TVET should not be treated as a backup plan. It is a strong, practical, and dignified pathway that equips young people with skills, confidence, and the ability to earn a living.
Because in the end, success is not about titles it’s about purpose, skill, and living meaningfully.
And TVET gives many children the chance to do exactly that.