Technical and Vocational Colleges in Nyandarua County have continued to decry low enrollment even as the government pumped in millions of shillings to the sector.
The dwindling numbers has seen equipment, worth millions, deployed to the institutions lie idle, with stakeholders pooling efforts towards luring the numbers for their rollout.
Nyandarua North Deputy County Commissioner, Walter Ngaira, while calling on parents, guardians and students to enroll at the Ndaragwa TVET, regretted that the low number of students enrolled at the institution was not fully utilizing the institution’s potential.
He noted that through the chiefs, they had put down measures to sensitize and ensure that students are enrolled to get skills for employment and self-employment.
He noted that the government had the Women Enterprise, Uwezo and Youth funds for the self-employed persons to help them start up and the training would come in handy to have them have a better footing while applying for the loans.
Ngaira encouraged investors to put up accommodation facilities, shops and businesses to help the students settle down. This he said would help the farmers in the semiarid area to improve their livelihoods.
Ndaragwa TVC Principal, Margaret Muthoni Njega said the institutions that offered courses in ICT, Fashion and Design, Electrical Plumbing, Business as well as Hair dressing and beauty, had 36 students already enrolled against a capacity of more than 1, 000.
Ms. Njega, noted that the government subsidized school fees for all who enroll with the Higher Education Loans Board, coming in to further subsidize the fees.
She noted that the government pays 30, 000 for every student, with the remaining shs.26, 000 spread across the three terms adding that the students would then automatically qualify for HELB loans of up to Shs.40, 000 which will help in clearing the fee balances and upkeep.
The Institution that is situated four kilometers from the Nyahururu- Nyeri road, has potential for expansion with nine tutors already deployed.
James Gichuhi Ndungu, a Tutor at the institution urged the society to embrace courses that offered manual skills and shift from the white collar mindset, noting that persons with technical courses were now earning more than the ones in white collar jobs.
The learners at the institution, most of whom are drawn from Nyandarua, Laikipia and Nyeri counties, lauded the government for affording them the opportunity to gain technical skills that they were certain would get them opportunities.