Secretarial colleges will gradually go the way of the Dodo. But back in the day, cute lasses who didn’t make the cut for tough courses thronged secretarial colleges to learn shorthand and typing with manual typewriters.
They changed carbon, knew where all the paper files were in the cabinet, took dictation and made calls, besides having a mastery in sieving sumbua visitors while sipping copious amounts of office tea.
The government, being the biggest employer, absorbed secretaries in droves and many corporations had one as a barrier to protect the boss. This was a job characterised by the ennui of routine until retirement.
Trophy secretaries were visible in the Stone Age era before open plan offices and technology - which upset the apple-cart: the computer replaced the typewriter and desktop file folders rendered wooden and metalic file cabinets a waste of office space.
Secretarial colleges gave way to computer colleges as sekis were ‘upgraded’ to personal or executive assistants with uni degrees, seeing as it is they sit in for the boss in boardrooms.
At a lower level, what is now coloured as ‘front office manager’ requires knowledge in public relations; human resources management; diary and business management; accounting and supervision. The profession was - and still is - a female-dominated field.
