Counties need to pay more attention to vocational training of the youth

The Constitution devolved the running and management of vocational training centres (VTCs, previously called youth polytechnics) to the county governments.

A closer look at the VTCs reveals long term neglect and lack of planning since Independence. Yet Kenya’s aspirations of becoming an industrialised country by 2030 cannot happen without massive investments, planning and prudent management of these centres.

It is noteworthy that these institutions can equip large numbers of young people with skills that can earn them a living in such areas as carpentry, electrical installations, masonry, motor vehicle mechanics assembly, repair of mobile phones, and repair and maintenance of motorcycles, among others.

But their systematic neglect, lack of equipment, lack of qualified instructors and poor management has led to a situation where more than 90 per cent of the people doing these jobs have not undergone any training.

And, those who have trained in these institutions have little or no skills and competence to be proud of. One VTC student recently summed it up thus: “there is hardly any difference between a graduate leaving a VTC after three years of training, and one who is entering; they all have the same skills”.

So what ails this vital sector of our economy? Because of poor funding for a long time, many VTCs have no qualified trainers, lack vital equipment and workshops, have obsolete technology and are training students using outdated methods.

Other challenges include lack of qualified and competent trainers, low motivation by trainers and students, negative attitude towards VTCs by the community (who think that they are meant for failures), low fees payment, poor leadership and management, political interference and lack of relevant policies to grow the sector.

This has led to low enrolment, grabbing of VTC land and other assets, theft and pilferage of VTC assets, rampant absenteeism among the staff and students, and poor networking and marketing of the institutions.

In some VTCs it is difficult for students to know when trainers will come to work, and trainers equally do not know when they will have enough students to teach; it is that bad. Everyone comes when they want.

This has been made worse by lack of employment for graduates who complete courses in these institutions. It is ironical that while Kenya has embraced many new technologies such as mobile telephony and has a large number of motorcycles and bicycles plying our roads, our VTCs have not evolved to teach students how to make or repair some of these new technologies.

They are still stuck with training students in the same areas that were taught in the 1960s, using the same curricula even as things change.

Many of the VTCs do not have Internet connection or electricity and lack of land for expansion is not making matters any better.

With Kenya’s booming construction industry, one would expect that thousands of graduates would be coming out of these institutions to work as masons, electricians, carpenters, interior designers, land-scaping experts, draftsmen and women and project managers, among others.

This has not materialised and there does not seem to be any national or local policy and desire to move the country and these vital institutions into this strategic direction.

Devolving of the sector, seems to have fragmented the VTCs and so far there has been no evidence that the county governments are working to remedy this sad situation.

For the VTCs to succeed they must be revamped, equipped and made to solve our day-to-day challenges and problems, especially in rural towns and villages. We cannot industrialise until we focus on making sure that the VTCs play their role of imparting skills and competencies in our youths.

When one considers that we lose over 500,000 students from our education system between Class Eight and Form Four; and another 300,000 drop out between Form Four and university, one would think that VTCs would play crucial roles in equipping these drop-outs with the skills that they need to change their lives and contribute to national development.

These are people that can carry out mass assembly of cheap mobile phones, fabricate spare parts and repair commonly used technologies. We are sitting on a huge potential.

There is need for a national policy (probably along the lines of the National Youth Service) that will spell out the vital role that this sector can play and how both the county and national governments can spur development in this sector.

We need to modernise these institutions by expanding facilities such as land, workshops, additional modern equipment, employing qualified and competent trainers, improving leadership and management, collective marketing and re-branding, and introducing viable income-generating activities.

Activities such as inter-VTC sports tournaments and annual exhibitions of products and services from these centres would go a long way in changing our perceptions on how we view VTCs.

There is need to harmonise and improve curricula, introduce quality audits and carry out competence-based training, assessment and testing with more time being devoted to practical skills training. In this way, the VTCs can play their role in lifting Kenya to the next level.
Dr Mukhwana is the deputy commission secretary in charge of Planning, Research and Development at the Commission for University Education (CUE). The views expressed here are personal. Email: [email protected]