The huge demand for university education has resulted in appetite for and consequent investment in tertiary institutions, including technical colleges and related institutions.
Many tertiary colleges have been converted into universities thus denying citizens the opportunity to learn in and obtain the qualifications offered by these institutions.
When I was growing up in the village, we used to visit the local Catholic Church for prayers when examinations were approaching. This used to be both a sacred event but also an opportunity to visit our local centre in Asumbi. One of the other landmarks was a visit to Asumbi Teachers Training College.
It was thus gratifying this past week to attend a meeting at the college. The meeting was held against the results of the examinations for teacher training colleges countrywide.
Statistics reveal that less than 50 per cent of those who sat the examinations nationally passed and qualified to graduate and proceed to the job market.
Listening to the discussions, it dawned on me how much things have changed from those early days in the village. First, contrary to the huge attraction and demand for admission to these colleges, there is a reduction in the number of those who apply and seek admission to these institutions.
Part of the explanation is the examination results over the last few years, which has reduced the number of qualified applicants. Related to this is what the chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) spoke about a few days ago.
The huge demand for university education has resulted in appetite for and consequent investment in tertiary institutions, including technical colleges and related institutions.
Many tertiary colleges have been converted into universities thus denying citizens the opportunity to learn in and obtain the qualifications offered by these institutions.
As we discussed the results, I was reminded of a similar occurrence within the legal profession, where a negligible percentage of those who sit the Council of Legal Education administered examinations pass. Learning institutions exist to train students.
The end result is to ensure that those enrolled are able to successfully compete their training, pass the examinations set and administered at the end of the process and graduate to the world so as to provide the necessary human resource in their chosen field of study.
In the area of teacher training, the country has a huge shortage of teachers. Filling this gap is both a function of producing sufficient number of graduates from teacher training colleges and availability of resources from government to hire such teachers once they graduate.
There is need for the country to realise that we require manpower of various levels of expertise. Not everybody must go to university to pursue a degree. A month or so ago a friend engaged me in a discussion on university education and the option in other countries of one pursuing a diploma at the university for two years as opposed to a four-year degree.
Unlike in Kenya, there are many who prefer to pursue the two- year study courses and thereafter enter the job market. This is an approach that must be encouraged in Kenya. To do so requires investment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes much more, popularising technical institutes and other tertiary colleges like the teacher training colleges.
Additionally, the process of ensuring that those who pursue certificate and diploma courses can in future transfer the credits obtained in those courses in case they desire to purpose higher training in future should be implemented consistently.
This is even more important due to the results that students have posted the last few years as a result of tightening of the rules and procedures for managing results.
As opposed to decrying that this is starving tertiary institutions and universities of potential students, we have to ensure that those who do not obtain grades for automatic admission to university can be absorbed in tertiary colleges and have a future of pursuing university education is they so desire.
Teacher training colleges are important for an additional reason. They are not just a training institution, they train a cadre of people who eventually end up being the most influential professional in any community.
The quality of training and values instilled through these institutions have a huge impact on cohesion, development and status of communities in Kenya.
Secondly the large number of those who have been trained by these institutions as teachers must be absorbed. It is counterproductive to continue churning out graduates every year when they do not see a path to earning a living from their education and training.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
