Members of the Murang’a County Assembly (MCAs) have raised concern over poorly equipped local village polytechnics in the area.
While debating a motion touching polytechnics Wednesday, the MCAs decried that the facilities were lagging behind in terms of infrastructure and technology due to lack of adequate financing.
In a motion tabled by the Gitugi ward representative Edwin Wairagu on budgetary allocation for village polytechnics, the MCAs urged the County Executive to increase funding of the polytechnics to at least Sh80 million for the next financial year, which will go mostly towards staffing and development of the institutions.
“The Assembly urges County executive for education and technical training to urgently consider improving physical infrastructure, staffing levels and learning facilities across village polytechnics by providing more financial support,” said Wairagu.
The Gitugi MCA divulged that the current budget allocation of Sh13.6 million for this financial year is inadequate to cater for diverse needs of the polytechnics.
“The county has about 70 village polytechnics and some of them are not operational, while others have closed down due to limited funding, inadequate teaching staff and lack of the requisite equipment to continue operating” he averred.
Wairagu noted with concern that the county government has not been able to employ enough sub-county village polytechnic personnel, leading to poor performance and unsatisfactory service delivery.
He observed that in terms of education, polytechnics serve a considerable percentage in regards to disseminating knowledge to the young people and therefore as MCAs they cannot sit back and watch unsatisfactory operationalization of these institutions.
“Education is a basic right for every child. Young people are enrolled to acquire knowledge and various skills being offered at these institutions to help them earn a living and become economically empowered,” he said.
Further, Wairagu said polytechnics are key pillar to creation of employment to the youths in line with the country’s vision 2030, adding that lack of qualified staff to run the village polytechnics had greatly affected supervision in the institutions, leading to poor service delivery.
Wairagu observed that when young people do enroll in tertiary institutions they sometimes become idle and may resort to indulging in social vices like and alcohol drug abuse.
“We can curb this menace by making sure that our institutions are fully equipped to support their sustainability” he said.
On his part, Kahumbu MCA Chefman Njoroge while seconding the motion encouraged the county government to invest in the development of polytechnics by increasing their budgetary allocation to enable them have ample staff and necessary learning materials.
“If our youths are trained in plumbing, masonry, carpentry, hairdressing and other technical skills they can set up their own businesses, thus empowering them economically and at the same time creating employment for other youths,” said Njoroge.
Ithanga MCA Alex Makau while supporting the motion said that village polytechnics are devolved function, but not much attention had been given to these crucial institutions.
“The county government ought to allocate more funding to the polytechnics in order to enable them to hire more instructors and buy necessary equipment to ease the learning process,” he said.
The Assembly’s majority leader Francis Kibe on the other hand said that polytechnics are very critical institutions because this is where the youth acquire skills that help them become self-employed.
“The County executive for education and technical training should push for employment of more staff in the polytechnics to enable the learners get quality education” said Kibe, who is also the Ithiru ward representative.
By Anita Omwenga and Purity Mugo
