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The Kenyan government has been actively signing Bilateral Labour Agreements with nations like Germany, Canada, and Saudi Arabia to secure opportunities for the youth, with more than 450,000 Kenyans reportedly placed in jobs abroad to ease high local unemployment.
While these agreements aim to offer better-paying jobs and bolster the economy through remittances, the professional trajectory for many Kenyans who travel to work abroad is seldom a linear path to success.
In reality, many skilled migrants often face immense professional and cultural adaptation pressures that sometimes result in them taking up low-skilled work despite their qualifications.
This systemic issue highlights a critical brand risk for Kenyan labour, transforming from an opportunity for remittances into a reputational hazard where workers are vulnerable to exploitation.
To protect worker dignity and enhance the value of the Kenyan diaspora community, Kenya must move beyond merely exporting labour for purposes of filling job shortage gaps to exporting highly skilled, certified professionals with top-tier, sought-after expertise.
Educational institutions must urgently align their curricula with international certification bodies to ensure that a certification earned in Kenya is immediately recognised in any other country abroad.
Beyond technical skills, many Kenyans who travel abroad struggle with cultural adaptation, language nuances, and varying communication styles, which are often major barriers to career progression.
Schools must now incorporate the comprehensive teaching of foreign languages as well as professional soft skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, and time management, to adequately prepare learners for global job markets.
The future of Kenyan labour lies not just in sending workers abroad, but in preparing them to excel, thrive, and eventually return to drive national growth. This requires a shift from quantity-focused labour export to quality-focused human capital development.
Schools should not just prepare Kenyans to be employees abroad, but to be entrepreneurs. By fostering a culture of innovation, returning Kenyans can put their international experiences into local businesses, thereby solving unemployment.
Likewise, parents must be more discerning about where they enroll their children. Since the roll-out of the competency-based system of education, schools have been vying to be the top choice for learners seeking a holistic education.
With every institution claiming to be the best, finding a school that truly equips a child for a competitive global landscape can be a significant challenge.
To narrow it down, parents should focus on key indicators like curriculum, teacher qualifications, teaching methods, and co-curricular opportunities to set up their children for international success.
The writer is the head of marketing and communications at Crawford International School, Kenya
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By Ezekiel Kagunda