By Roy Hezron
Data from this year’s placement report has revealed that many students who qualified for university admission opted for Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) courses.
The placement report released on August 17, 2021 at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), indicated that in the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), 6,617 students who attained C+ and above chose TVET programmes up from 2,632 in 2019.
Speaking during the announcement of university placements, Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha noted that the increase showed that attitudes towards TVET courses were changing.
“This is encouraging because the government has built and equipped TVET institutions in every county to ensure that our youths access quality technical training and move the country towards achieving 100 percent transition to tertiary education,” noted Prof. Magoha.
Prof. Magoha decried on the law enrollment in TVET institutions despite the efforts put by the government in improving TVET sector.
He directed Kenya University and College Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to continue mobilizing for more recruitment of students for placement to TVET institutions for the coming intakes in January and May, 2022.
He also asked KUCCPS to immediately roll out a campaign countrywide to sensitize candidates, teachers and parents on the correct process of course selection to ensure candidates make the right choices.
“We have continued to experience cases where candidates, perhaps for lack of proper guidance, end up selecting competitive courses in all the four expected slots,” he said.
The CS encouraged school leavers who are yet to enroll in colleges to take advantage of the remaining slots in TVET institutions.
“All eligible students are urged to apply for HELB loans. They will be considered based on their level of need,” stated Prof. Magoha.
On university placement, 134,690 out of 142,540 candidates who qualified for university placements applied for courses of their choice while 7850 didn’t apply.
All the 70 public and private universities declared 167,046 vacancies to be taken up by candidates who qualified for degree courses.128, 073 candidates were placed in degree programmes and 6,617 to TVET.
Only 2,506 schools out of 10,437 schools that were registered examination centers submitted their candidates’ universities choices.
“This is a bad indictment on our career teachers who must have failed to carry out their duty,” said Prof. Magoha.
The selection exercise for courses at colleges and universities usually begins at the school level where teachers in charge of career departments guide their candidates to ensure they prudently select degree, diploma, certificate and artisan programmes depending on their choices and academic abilities.
2,225 applicants were considered based on their gender, disabilities and the fact that they are from marginalized regions.
737,527 candidates sat for KCSE IN 2020, up from 688,927 in 2019. 142,540 candidates qualified for degree programmes based on the compared with 125,448 in 2019.There was a 33 per cent increase in the number of students qualifying for diploma programmes from 146,193 in the 2019 KCSE examination to 193,949 in the 2020 KCSE examination.
There will be Inter-Institution Transfer process online from September 1-30, 2021.
KUCCPS 2020 KCSE Candidates’ Placement Data for Degree Program
