Ministry of Education has identified lack of professional career guidance as the primary factor contributing to the low transition rates of secondary school students into higher learning institutions.
The same is also to blame for the skills deficiency currently being witnessed in the country’s labour market, where there is a mismatch between the skills that employers are looking for and the training and experience that school leavers possess.
According to Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu, many young people in Kenya enter the labour market without adequate skills mainly because they were not exposed to proper and professional career guidance from the primary school to university level.
He was speaking during the 2nd National Career Guidance Development Conference themed ‘Leveraging on Career Guidance and Development to Enhance Lifelong Transitions and Youth Employability amid Education reforms in Kenya’ at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) organised by The Career Development Association of Kenya (CDAK).
The Conference brought together local and international experts, stakeholders, and thought leaders to deliberate on the role of career guidance and development as a strategy in enhancing lifelong transitions and youth employability amid the ongoing education reforms in Kenya.
Quoting the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service KUCCPS), Machogu noted that the transition rate of secondary school graduates (2022 cohort) to vocational training, technical institutions or universities stood at 32% during the 2023/2024 placement cycle.
Much more ominously, the Economic Survey indicated a transition rate of only 30% from secondary to post-secondary education over the last few years leaving a substantial 70% unaccounted for. Machogu criticised the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms for inadequate career guidance structures in schools and suggested a review of these frameworks.
In a speech read on his behalf by Dr Meshack Opwora, the Director -TVET in the Ministry, the Cabinet Secretary decried the low transition rates to vocational training, technical institutions and universities which had intensified youth unemployment in the country, which currently stands at 67% compared to the national unemployment rate of 12. 7%
“Young people in Kenya face a monumental challenge of employment. Industry reports show that the youth unemployment rate is 67% compared to the overall unemployment rate of 12.7% in the country. For a country that has pegged its development on the robust energy of its youth, this picture does not inspire hope,” he lamented.
Nevertheless, Machogu said that professional career guidance will assist learners in all stages of transition within CBC from junior school, senior school, Colleges, TVETS, Universities, tertiary to the world of work.
However, Research conducted by CDAK on career alignment revealed that 66% of respondents believe they are in the wrong career. Only seven percent believe they are in the right career, while 27% don’t know.
By Michael Omondi
