Over 6,000 Students Placed in TVETs After Snubbing Universities

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses in the country continue to attract a high number of students who complete high school as the government urges the society to embrace the institutions.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Education on Tuesday show that a total number of 6,617 students who qualified to join university after attaining C+ and above chose TVET programmes and were placed to the institutions by Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS).

In a press statement, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said the number is an increase from 2,632 who were placed in the institutions under the government program in 2019.

Among those who applied for TVET courses is an A student. A total of 19 students who scored A- in the 2020 KCSE were also selected to join the institutions after an application exercise that closed on July 5.

Others are B+(98), B (3630), B- (1113) and C+ (5023).

Read: Governors Partner With Godrej In Hairdressing Programmes For TVETs

“The more than double increase is a welcome development that signals the changing attitude towards TVET. This is encouraging because the government has built and equipped TVET institutions in every county,” said CS Magoha.

“This is to ensure that our youths access quality technical training and move the country towards achieving 100 percent transition to tertiary education.”

There have been concerns that a majority of students who join universities with average grades don’t get to pursue degree courses of their choice.

Overall, the CS said, TVET institutions presented 308,339 slots for student placement.

A total of 594,987 candidates of the 2020 examination were eligible for placement into Diploma, Certificate, Craft and Artisan courses.

However, 137,072 applied for the available slots (44% of the capacity), and all of them were placed to the institutions.

“The placement to TVET was open to all, including those from previous years up to the year 2000,” the CS added.

The CS noted that this years’ placement to TVET institutions represented a 54.5% increase from 2019 when we placed 88,724.

Adding that the numbers still remain low compared to slots available, Magoha directed KUCCPS to continue with the mobilisation and recruitment of students for placement to the institutions for the coming intakes in January and May 2022.

On university placement, the CS said all the 70 public and private universities declared 167,046 vacancies to be taken up by candidates who qualified to be admitted for degree courses.

Of the 142,540 candidates who qualified for degree programmes, 134,690 (95%) applied for courses of their choice and were placed, while 7,850 (5%) did not apply.

Of those who applied, 128,073 (90%) were placed in degree programmes.

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