Nakuru training centre changes name to shed negative image

Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua (left) is shown how to fix a vehicle’s wheel disc by a student at the Nakuru Youth Polytechnic. The governor has directed the management to change its name to attract more students. [PHOTO: KIPSANG JOSEPH/STANDARD

KENYA: For decades, the Nakuru Youth Polytechnic has been shunned by youngsters because of its derogatory reference.

The polytechnic is locally referred as “Youth Manyundo”, giving it a wrong image among the people it is supposed to serve.

According to the County Director of Youth Affairs and Polytechnics Josephat Kimemia, the name has over time attracted a negative perception.

Many view it as a place for academic dwarfs, and that masonry was the only training that could be offered at the institution.

“Many young people viewed the polytechnic as a place of failures. None wanted to join the institution; not because it lacks facilities, but because of the name,” he said during a recent ceremony to refurbish the polytechnic.

Evans Karani, the principal, concurs, saying the institution, which was started way back in 1953, failed to attract students.

“The name ‘Youth Manyundo’ came as result of intense knocking of metal that was taking place at the college. The metal work by the students produced a lot of noise, hence the name,” he said.

Mr Karani said the name made the institution a laughing stock of the local community when it came to academic matters with parents, teachers and students of other learning institutions making fun of it.

Even the few students who were admitted to undertake metal processing technique courses, never wanted to be associated with the institution.

As a result, the institution used to admit between 20 and 30 students a year.

But since the county government took over, the population has grown from 50 students to 275 in a span of three years, undertaking 12 different skilled courses.

DEROGATORY NAME

“We were seen as failures and the only skill we needed was masonry. Our peers referred to us as watu wa manyundo (people of hammers),” said Peter Ochieng, a former student.

Karani said parents would occasionally tease their average-performing children that they risk joining ‘Youth Manyundo’ if they failed to make it to university.

Mr Kimemia said over the years, the institution had attracted few students, forcing Governor Kinuthia Mbugua to direct the management to ensure the derogatory name was done away with.

Last week when the governor commissioned refurbishment work at the polytechnic, he observed that the name had kept away many students keen on acquiring various skills.

“We conducted a study to establish why many young people have been shunning the polytechnic and we came to realise that it was because of the name. This name has to go,” he said.

The governor suggested that the polytechnic be renamed Nakuru Youth Technical Training Institute to attract more students.

Mr Mbugua said the county government had worked hard to make the polytechnic one of the leading technical colleges in the region.

“This is no longer a place to learn masonry alone. We have expanded the courses offered to cover other fields and enable the youth acquire various skills that will help them in the job market,” the governor said.

He observed that the scrapping of the term was the first step towards making the institution attractive.

“Things have changed within three years after the county government took over the management of the institution, which placed the responsibility of running it on our shoulders,” he said.