Technical Education in Kenya: Some Problems

Abstract

This article will identify some of the problems in technical education during the first decade of independence and then attempt to assess critically official attempts to solve these. Suggestions will also be made to indicate what future trends ought to be in national interests.

One problem is that the term “technical” as used in Kenyan education embraces a wide range of meaning. At one end of the spectrum, any consultant from abroad, be he a football coach or a tax specialist, is referred to as a technical adviser. At the other extreme “technical education” refers to the training of craftsmen, technicians, business administrators, secretaries, agriculturists and the like, personnel who are involved in production in industry. Generally most official reports allude to craftsmen and technicians, without drawing a distinction between the two, when they refer to technical training; yet others make a distinction between the types trained.

Another problem which confronted administrators was raising the quality of technical education given in specialized secondary schools run by the Ministry of Education. The four secondary technical schools located in Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, and Sigalagala are well equipped. In 1973 these had a total enrollment of 2,215 students. The Wamalwa Commission (1972), however, had cause to complain about the standards of the eight secondary vocational schools which had a total enrollment of 3,718 students in 1973; most of these students left school “with no terminal qualifications of marketable value.” These eight schools which were located at Kabete, Kaiboi, Machakos, Mawengo, Meru, Kisumu, and Nakuru offered only pre-craft training in masonry, carpentry, and the allied trades.