Polytechnics set to get money from county, Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE)

By KEVINE OMOLLO

Kisumu, Kenya: Village polytechnics and middle-level colleges within Kisumu County are set to get funding from the county government and Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE).

The two entities last week reached an agreement to invest in training of skilled labour in a bid to reduce the shortage of personnel in the industrial sector.

The agreement, which is yet to be formalised, is expected to fund infrastructural development, buy facilities and training of tutors in the institutions.

Governor Jack Ranguma said a number of industries in the region have expressed concern over inadequacy of skilled personnel with specific job requirements. He said the county government has opened doors for private employers to negotiate how to improve the institutions so as to produce personnel with the skills they require.

MAINSTREAM CURRICULUM

“It is disheartening that we have to source for skilled personnel from other counties to do simple jobs like laying tiles on the floor,” said Ranguma.

Ranguma was speaking in Kisumu during FKE Western Kenya Annual General Meeting (AGM) held  last Friday.

FKE CEO Jackline Mugo said the federation and the county government will engage the Ministry of Education in mainstreaming the curriculum in the tertiary institutions to ensure that they conform to the market requirement. She accused the Government of abandoning the tertiary institutions leading to insufficiency in skilled personnel.

“The Government has invested much on universities, which train managers leaving out the polytechnics that train skills. This has resulted to a society with more managers than workers,” said Mugo.

GIVE PROPOSALS

Mugo said the situation has led to the hiking cost of production as the managers trained in the universities are forced to work as casuals due to inadequate managerial positions.

The federation boss said the institutions have been producing the bulk of skilled labourers required to handle the operations within the industries hence their collapse has impacted negatively on the productivity of the local industries.

Federation members are expected to meet various stakeholders in the sector to give proposals on specific skills required within their areas of operation to enable them be encompassed in the curriculum.

“We have visited some of the middle level institutions which offer skilled trainings and they are quite discouraging. Most of their facilities, which were acquired several decades ago have become dilapidated and no one seems to care to make them operational,” added Mugo.

Ranguma said the partnership between FKE and the county government will also ensure improvement of security and information technology within the region.