日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
China
Home / China / Focus

Kenya must take new look at education

By Mary Mutinda | China Daily Africa | Updated: 2015-05-24 14:39

Paradigm shift is a must if country is to realize its industrial dream

In the mid-1980s, Kenya realized there was not enough employment for the growing number of young people. This was particularly disconcerting when graduates filled the streets looking for elusive white-collar jobs.

As a result, the government invest heavily in research on curriculum development, which gradually led to a shift from A levels, a system borrowed from the British, to O levels, which emphasize practical subjects.

The objective was to empower students to become self-sufficient and embrace alternatives, such as blue-collar jobs. Village polytechnics were promoted to churn out technicians who would fuel the industrial revolution that was to be the backbone of the economy.

This heralded the rise of an informal sector known as jua kali, or hot sun. Many of those who left polytechnics could not find jobs and decided to become self-employed, and so under the blazing sun they forged things the populous needed in everyday life, such as storage boxes made of iron sheets for those who could not afford suitcases and oil tin lamps for those who could not afford lanterns.

It suddenly looked like a hardship, and few young people leaving school were willing to venture into the sector. The original problem, unemployment, raged on.

Blue-collar jobs were looked down on to the detriment of the manufacturing sector.

Down the line, the unemployment rate ballooned and unofficial figures put it at 45 percent. The jua kali sector still exists, but is obviously starved of innovative minds and funds to bring it up to global standards. Most wares made here have seen little or no improvement.

The subtle changes to the education system are yet to change the mindset of young people.

The situation was made more dire two years ago when new students protested against undertaking a technology program and insisted on taking a "cleaner" engineering program at the newly elevated Kenya Polytechnic, now known as the Technical University of Kenya. Even though the program offered them a better chance of being absorbed into the job market.

The students wanted a more elitist program, pointing out that the new bachelor's of technology should be left to diploma and certificate students in technical colleges and polytechnics.

The students were uniquely positioned, as the engineering program they were insisting on is widely offered by nearly all of Kenya's higher institutions. Yet once in the job market fresh graduates are not equipped to handle mundane tasks, forcing manufacturing companies to reinvest time and money to put them in technical, hands-on courses.

A paradigm shift is needed in Kenya's education system. To become industrialized and achieve the goals set out in its Vision 2030 blueprint, the country needs to have at least 7,500 engineers, 22,500 technologists, 90,000 technicians and about 450,000 artisans. Currently, the country has 6,000 registered engineers and no technologists.

Newly chartered colleges such as the Technical University are poised to address this gap. Thanks to collaboration with China, the college has a state-of-the-art workshop in which students can sharpen their skills before entering the job market.

The planned pilot project by China to relocate some of its industries to Kenya will definitely support and even speed up the paradigm shift that is taking place in the country's education system.

For a long time, Kenya has been revered for its knowledge capabilities compared with other African countries. But it is common knowledge that we may not really have what it takes to deliver the industrial revolution we are speaking about.

By re-investing in education, we may see Kenya follow the path that saw China industrialize within two decades. The Chinese industrial sector wants to relocate because rising labor costs are eroding bottom lines.

Kenya, and Africa in general, also has a growing youth population educated and eager to be productive. These are the people who will peddle the envisaged industrialization. They are also the people who are pushing innovation, and the combination will indeed bring a revolution.

But for all this to happen, Kenya needs to seriously revamp its education sector.

The author is a lecturer at the School of Finance and Applied Economics, Strathmore University.

Editor's picks
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美精品福利 | 九九精品视频在线观看 | 国产精品伦一区二区三级视频 | 99成人免费视频 | 国产福利第一页 | 日韩一级一级 | 黄色一级大片在线免费看国产一 | 青青超碰| 91久久国产视频 | 一区二区三区黄 | 色呦呦视频在线观看 | 伊人精品在线视频 | 亚洲第一色站 | 韩日精品视频 | 久久精品一区二区三区四区 | 久久久久中文字幕亚洲精品 | 久久免费精品 | 成人黄色a | 中文字幕在线播放视频 | 最新中文字幕在线视频 | 欧美日韩在线中文字幕 | 色噜噜av | 美女福利在线 | 91精品国产日韩91久久久久久 | av一级免费 | 国产一区二区免费 | av网站在线免费看 | 亚洲狠狠 | 免费精品一区二区 | 伊人久久影视 | 成人亚洲精品 | 成人小视频在线观看 | 国产乱码精品1区2区3区 | 精品国产一区二区三区在线观看 | 丁香六月婷婷 | 国产在线天堂 | 欧美专区第一页 | 毛片网站网址 | 国产一级二级毛片 | 成人免费在线观看av | 91超碰在线观看 |