Students advised to join vocational training institutes

Kipkirui Langat, the director-general of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority at a past function. He has asked students who scored below C+ in the 2016 KCSE examination and will miss university places to apply to join various technical colleges. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • There are more than 200 technical institutes being run by the national government which will admit students who attained grades C to D+ to equip them with crucial skills.
  • Kericho Woman Rep Hellen Chepkwony said it is wrong for parents to think that their children can only be successful in life if they join universities.

Students who scored below C+ in the 2016 KCSE examination and will miss university places have been asked to apply to join various technical and vocational training institutes across the country.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority director-general Kipkirui Langat on Tuesday said the institutions had the capacity to absorb 300,000 students this year. He encouraged parents to enrol their children at the institutions.

Dr Langat said there were more than 200 technical institutes being run by the national government in the country which would admit students who attained grades C to D+ to equip them with crucial skills.

“Our aim is to ensure that our young people acquire the necessary skills to run the various industries in this country. I am asking those who did not get the opportunity to join universities to join our institutions because failure to attain grades A to C+ is not the end of life,” said Dr Langat in Kericho.

RUIN YOUNG PEOPLE

The public has raised concern over last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education results after only 88,982 candidates out of the more than 500,000 who sat the examination met the minimum requirements for university education, while the rest got C- and below.

Kericho Woman Rep Hellen Chepkwony said it is wrong for parents to think that their children can only be successful in life if they join universities.

She warned that such thinking could ruin young people emotionally by making them feel they are failures in life.

Speaking on Tuesday in Sigowet-Soin Constituency, when she launched the disbursement of bursary cheques for Sh3.8 million, Mrs Chepkwony said the skills offered by technical institutes are in high demand in nearly every sector of the economy.

“We are urging people to stop looking down on middle- level academic institutions in this country. Technical institutions will be the engine of growth in this country as they will produce the people who will do the bulk of the work to deliver Vision 2030 and boost self-employment,” she said.