We need middle-level colleges to prosper
What you need to know:
- For several decades, development agencies have placed emphasis on primary and, more recently, secondary education. However, they have neglected tertiary education as a means to improve economic growth and mitigate poverty.
- The middle-developed countries such as Asian tigers Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have managed to attain economic prosperity and sustainability through the use of skills churned from these middle-level institutions.
Formal education is considered to be the principal institutional mechanism for developing the human skills and knowledge needed for social, political, and economic development. Investment in formal education has become a core principle in many countries’ development agendas.
Education is widely accepted as a leading instrument for promoting economic growth. For Africa, where growth is essential if the continent is to climb out of poverty, education is particularly important.
For several decades, development agencies have placed emphasis on primary and, more recently, secondary education. However, they have neglected tertiary education as a means to improve economic growth and mitigate poverty.
The focus and attention given to the primary level is mainly a social approach. Developing countries like Kenya need to wake up to the reality of shifting economic resources from primary to middle-level education institutions, which are accredited with the production of middle-level manpower, for it to achieve the much-hyped Vision 2030.
The country’s long-term development blueprint aims to create a globally competitive and prosperous country, providing a high quality of life for all its citizens. It aims to transform Kenya into a newly-industrialised, middle-income country by the year 2030.
One of the greatest and most modest ways to achieve this dream is to impart our children and youths with the relevant skills to promote an all-rounded person, who is competitive and self-reliant in the modern world.
LEFT TO LIE FALLOW
The Mackay Commission, which recommended the abolition of the 7-4-2-3 system of education and its replacement with the 8.4.4 one, advocated integration of technical and vocational aspects in the curriculum.
It was intended that those who would exit the system at each level would have acquired the skills needed to find gainful employment or self-employment and, therefore, be self-reliant, besides being all-rounded persons, who could fit in any working conditions.
However, due to cost, they were quietly left to lie fallow. The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Institutions (TVET) were solely left to offer these skills, especially to candidates who are not able to attain the minimum cut-off points to join universities.
The middle-developed countries such as Asian tigers Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have managed to attain economic prosperity and sustainability through the use of skills churned from these middle-level institutions.
For Kenya to become a middle-income and industrialised nation by 2030, therefore, it requires a vibrant technical vocational and training system.
The TVETs have been an alternative for many Kenyans who failed to secure university admission, but in a different way have the capacity to contribute to nation-building.
It is sad, therefore, that these institutions have been threatened with takeovers by universities seeking rapid expansion. The takeovers will negatively affect the production of technicians, craftsmen, and artisans, who are in high demand, as universities’ focus is on degree programmes.
The writer is a lecturer at Riara University’s School of Education. ([email protected])
