The puzzle of well-equipped colleges crying for students

Its 10am. Four students are hunched on their keyboards at the ICT class, catching up with their assignments.

They occasionally huddle over one computer to hold discussions, and their voices echo through the empty room. Behind them are several computers still wrapped in clear polythene - unused.

“We have good facilities, but no students to take up the courses,” says ICT lecturer Clinton Ouma. Most students would rather flock cyber cafes in big cities to learn computer, than settle for technical training institutions that are better equipped, Mr Ouma says.

Modern facilities

Since its inception five years ago, Musakasa Technical Training Institute is one of the many well equipped Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions driving intensive campaigns to lure students, but have been getting very few responses.

“We are still not getting as many students as we would want, despite acquiring the most modern facilities for the school, including free internet,” says dean of students Lydia Ongachi.

Take their mechanical engineering class for instance. It is full of barely touched mechatronic equipment sourced from China, with no students to use them. Lecturers say they are still waiting for students to be brought in and for the Ministry of Education to roll out a syllabus on how to use the equipment.

Boniface Sangura, an electrical engineering student, says he chose Musakasa due to proximity from home. He is surprised to see some of his former classmates heading to Nairobi to scramble for space in universities, when technical institutions have more to provide.

“They tell me stories of how more than 10 students share one computer, when we have some lying idle here,” he says.

According to Vocational and Technical Training Principal Secretary Kevit Desai, there are 180,000 students in TVET institutions currently, yet these mid-level colleges have a capacity of 3.1 million students.

To try rescue the situation, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed recently ordered the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service to place the 500,000 students who scored below C+ in TVET colleges.

Only 28,866 students had applied to join these colleges.

High fees

Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority Director-General Kipkirui Lang’at says it is not only Musakasa that is battling with the challenge of charming students.

Despite recorded success stories and internationally recognised innovations that have stemmed from Tvets, Mr Lang’at says, there is still an overbearing misconception that students have to go through university to be successful.

One of the latest innovation that has generated applause from Kenyans is an eco-friendly solar powered car developed by Samuel Karumbo from Kitale Technical Polytechnic.

It brought TVETs into the limelight, helping reinforce the idea that technical schools can be a hub of inventions.

Lang’at says all is not lost for TVETs. He believes the high school fees charged in training institutions also hinder uptake of some of the courses.

“The students come from a system that gives free primary and secondary education. When you slap them with a fee, they are likely to reject it,” he says.

He says the government is working on reducing fees after it realised that when students are given scholarships, the take up of TVETs is positive.
Timothy Nyongesa, a technical officer at the TVET offices in Nairobi, says he gets disheartened every time he visits institutions across the country and sees the underutilisation of equipment.

“They have state-of-the art equipment that if used well, the country can produce a lot of technocrats and hands-on people who will fill market needs,” he says.
Many in this sector say the government should find ways to help TVETs meet their budgetary needs and encourage more students to join such institutions.
Last month, Deputy President William Ruto said technical colleges will review their fees downwards by 30 to 50 per cent to increase student population.

The new fees structure will be out in two months to make technical education accessible to many Kenyans.

To boost lecturers’ morale, Ruto said they will be moved from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to the Public Service Commission (PSC) payroll and a separate scheme of service from other teachers. They are anticipated to have better terms. The issue of access to loans was also discussed.

“We are also in discussions with the Higher Education Loans’ Board (Helb) to finance technical training the same way they do with universities,” Desai said.

Lang’at says even though Helb has been offering loans for some TVETs, the uptake is low due to lack of knowledge and accessibility. “Unlike universities where almost every student knows the process of getting Helb loans and scholarships, most of those who join TVETs are clueless on how to go about it,” he says.

Ongachi is hopeful, that Musakasa and other TVETS across the country will grow. She has watched the school grow from about 30 students only to the more than 200 it has currently, still way below capacity.

She believes that someday, students will disregard the mentality that gold is buried in university classes.

“We are waiting for them to come to TVETs and see what we have, and what they can get if they give us a chance,” she says.

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