Influence of government interventions on students’ enrollment in youth polytechnics in Embu county, Kenya

Abstract

The Kenya Vision 2030 aims at achieving a globally competitive and quality education, training and research for sustainable development. This will improve provision of education to polytechnic students and hence achieve the vision 2030 of making Kenya an industrialized nation by 2030. Technical and vocational education and training is back on the development agenda of many African countries after years of benign neglect, instigated by a complex set of reasons that included budgetary constraints and criticisms of the World Bank in the early 90's on its direction and focus (Afeti, 2014). The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of government interventions on student’s enrolment of youth polytechnics in Embu County. The objectives of the study were to establish how financial provisions influence enrolment in Youth Polytechnics, establish how institutional physical facilities influence enrolment in Youth Polytechnics, investigate the influence of teaching personnel on enrolment in Youth Polytechnics and to assess the influence of monitoring and evaluation on enrolment in youth polytechnics. . The theoretical framework of this study was derived from the human capital theory. The study used a descriptive survey design. The study focused at a target population of 126 respondents comprising of all the 98 Youth Polytechnic instructors and 28 Youth Polytechnic managers from the 28 public Youth Polytechnics in Embu County. Samples of 103 respondents were picked stratified sampling and purposeful sampling. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Five (5) teachers were used for Pilot testing before the commencement of the study. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Ms Excel. Descriptive statistics was computed and data was presented using tables. The Study found out that inadequate fund leads to drop out form institutions, lack of training equipments and materials, inadequate workers and nonpayment of board of management instructors. Lack of physical facilities has made it difficult to perform duties in the institutions. They youth polytechnics lacked managers and instructors with Bachelors and masters Degree who could improve the quality of education in youth polytechnics. There were no regular assessments of youth polytechnics by the department of quality assurance and standards of the ministry of education or the County government. The research findings generated information which could be used by government departments in the Ministry of Education to come up with interventions which would benefit polytechnic students, policy makers in planning the strategies for disseminating education to polytechnic students, County governments, future scholars and other stakeholders to improve provision of education to polytechnic students and hence achieve the vision 2030 of making Kenya an industrialized nation by 2030.