Factors Leading to Low Enrollment Patterns in Kenyan Youth Polytechnics

What went wrong with our Technical and Vocational training? Is it our curriculum, training culture, low value attached to such training, or lack of appropriate information? In Kenya, the large number of primary school leavers cannot be accommodated fully in the available vacancies in the secondary schools. Some of those who cannot proceed to secondary school may join the micro-small scale enterprise while the remaining are expected to join the youth polytechnics for skill development. However, a trend seems to have emerged where the YPs in the recent past have recorded low enrollment. This research aimed at carrying out a comprehensive investigation of the factors that may have led to low enrollment patterns in youth polytechnics in Kericho, Bureti and Bomet districts. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 180 YP students, 63 instructors, 90 parents, 90 YP graduates and 90 youths not enrolled from the neighborhoods of YPs. 18 YP Principals and 18 Deputy Principals were selected for interview. This gave a sample of 513 respondents. The study was both quantitative and qualitative. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, discussions and observations.