BY MWANAHABARI REPORTER
Kenyan nurses seeking employment in the UK in November 2021 made headline news after failing English test in London.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said at the time that only 10 out of 300 health workers who applied for the jobs with the National Health Service in UK passed the test.
The news shocked the nation – with many wondering just how poor Kenyan educated nurses must be when it comes to speaking the Whiteman’s language.
The test was a culmination of an agreement reached between in July 2021 between Kenya and the UK that would see unemployed health workers in Kenya work in the UK’s National Health Service.
The deal was meant to see nurses and other health workers without jobs get a “special route” to work in the UK.
The government has since launched an English Training program for Kenyan nurses seeking jobs in the United Kingdom.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe launched the program on Tuesday, February 1, 2022.
“It’s a historic event as this is the first time ever that we as the government have undertaken a training of this kind whereby we are preparing our young people to train overseas.
“We want to create a workforce that is internationally able, qualified and for that we are proud.
“It’s essential that Kenyans can travel to the UK not feeling as refugees, not hiding behind the scenes but traveling as appreciated and recognised expatriates,” said Kagwe.
Kagwe said that the training program is aimed at preparing the nurses to undergo the tests – dismissing claims that he said Kenyan nurses could not speak English.
“I did not say we cannot speak English. As Kenyans, we can speak fantastic English and that’s why we teach the subject in other countries.
“But that’s not to say that we will pass the professional exam that is required in the international community,” said Kagwe.