An A-plain student in the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination applied for a certificate or diploma course among the 6,616 others who forwent direct university studies.
This was a 151 percent rise in the number of candidates who scored C+ (plus) and above in the exam but chose the technical and vocational education training (TVET) compared to 2019.
The number has been rising yearly, getting the attention of the Ministry of Education.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said “the increase is welcome. It signals changing attitudes towards TVET. It is encouraging because the government has built and equipped TVET institutions in every county.”
He added when releasing the placement figures on Tuesday: “I am happy to note that candidates who qualify for university admission are increasingly embracing TVET courses despite having attained grades to join university.”
However, after the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) released the course results, on social media and face-to-face discussions, parents and guardians whose candidates missed their “dream” courses and universities were a worried lot. Some could not believe that a B+ scorer or an A- (minus) student could be placed to a diploma course at a “nondescript” college.
Is it possible that a candidate can miss all the four degree programmes KUCCPS allows and end up in a diploma course against their wish? Can somebody manipulate the placement system? The KUCCPS accepts dual applications for degree and diploma courses, but it appears a huge population does not understand the implication.
In our interviews with people from the placement agency, it is possible that applying for both degree and diploma programmes can place even an A-student to a diploma programme. It is possible to apply for both options, not knowing how the results would be, especially for the small number that applies before the KCSE results are released.
Any candidate who misses their choice programmes, but applied only for degree programmes gets any university course that they qualify for and has room for more candidates. This year, public and private universities declared 167,046 spaces, but only 128,073 applied, leaving more than 30,000 slots unused.
Some universities got fewer candidates that they had requested, showing how keen candidates and their people are on reputation of the higher learning institutions.
Is it, therefore, a misstep to apply for both degree and diploma courses at the same time? While the Ministry of Education is celebrating the shift to the skills-based TVET programmes, is it true that the thousands picked for diploma and certificates despite qualifying for degree are equally happy? Is it true that the number of people going for diploma courses is rising or some people are ruing this dual arrangement? Is there a recourse for those placed in diploma courses because they did not understand selection process?
An endless train of questions, revealing that the examination classes, their parents and teachers are not well sensitised on how to choose courses.
Prof Magoha directed the KUCCPS to “immediately roll out a campaign in all parts of the country to sensitise candidates, teachers, and parents on the correct process of course selection to ensure candidates make the right choices.” Prof Magoha faulted schools for low participation in selection. Of the 10,437 secondary schools registered as exam centres in 2020, only 2,506 submitted the candidates’ choices.
What’s more, some candidates, “perhaps for lack of proper guidance,” the CS said, selected competitive courses in all the four slots, minimising their chances of landing other competitive courses when they miss the minimum cluster points. Worse, some candidates insist on particular universities, chasing institutions and not courses.
This is not the first time the ministry is asking the KUCCPS to roll out course selection campaigns in a country where people, irrespective of class, believe in “marketable courses” and “prestigious universities”.
People privy to the placement process say a decimal point in KCSE mark means a lot during placement and “not all As” carry the same weight. An A-grade of 75 percent is different from that of 94 percent, KUCCPS sources told A Plain.
The 2020 KCSE candidates who, according to the KUCCPS placement, gave degree programmes a wide berth, this time rose to 14,467. Of these, 6,617 applied for vocational training while 7,850 did not apply at all. While 142,540 qualified for direct university entry, only 128,073 applied and were placed.
This year, those who qualified for diploma programmes were 193,949, rising from 146,193 in 2019, a growth of 33 percent. While the TVETs declared 308,339 slots, 137,072 candidates applied and were placed, taking up 44 percent of the vacancies.
For years now, there have been concerns that Kenya’s universities were producing half-baked graduates whose certificates were paperweight or worthless since they lack skills to launch own businesses or to do well in first jobs, the latter giving employers a difficult on-the-job training.
