Kenya’s formal education system has played a critical role in attempting to prepare young people with appropriate work and life skills, for assuming family and civil responsibilities. However the existent has not been sufficient for meeting those desired outcomes nor has it been able to accommodate the needs of many youth in the country. In that even though there is free public education the fees and cost for uniforms and school materials are still prohibitive for many families, for testing for continued education several young people from furthering their education and the overall quality of the schools is especially in the public sector remains problematic. One of the key areas of engaging the youth generation is through employment having been sufficiently empowered or not and, the youth need still need to find jobs to actualize their livelihood struggle through adulthood. In this country youth unemployment is a major developing challenge. The government has attempted to tackle this challenge through several initiatives, that includes KKV which participates in the consultative forum of the youth entrepreneurship and sustainability, Kenya network which is a national youth multi-stake holder network involved in promoting youth entrepreneurship and employment in Kenya
The government of Kenya can conceive strategies that can help to:
Provide loans for on lending to youth owned enterprises it can also attract and facilitate investment in micro, small and medium enterprises commercial infrastructure such as business incubators that will be beneficial to youth owned enterprises. The government can support youth oriented micro enterprises to develop linkages with large enterprises. The government can facilitate marketing of products and services of youth owned enterprises in both the domestic and international market. Sports and culture wise in the social services the government can promote youth development by designing policies and programs that build young people’s capacity to resist risk factors and enhance protective factors.
The government can develop a national youth policy to ensure Kenyan youth participation in the development through structured organizations structure collaborations and networking thus facilitating training and preparations and networking and thus facilitating training and preparation of the youth for nation building. Culture wise through festivals like music and drama which will help in talent identification among the youth and mechanisms that will ensure coordination and protection of youth’s creativity and innovations.
The youth can also be empowered through other forum like leadership and participation where effective and inclusive engagement of youth in development and enactment of law on youth affirmative action. The other empowerment could be through information communication and technology department through the ICT authority can seek to steer the match towards the digital future that will transform the country’s competitiveness and align the country in line with vision 2030s ICT goals.
Also empowerment can be through Agriculture, environmental management and sustainable development, the government aims to make agriculture attractive and tap the creativity and energy of youth in agriculture for food secure nation and sustainable development by promoting the use of agreed processes and technologies conducive environment can also be provided for the youth to be involved in agriculture.
And therefore engaging the youth population fully is therefore no longer a choice but an imperative in the development process, to help and empower the youth the government has to deal accordingly on the age of retiring because one has been in work for more than 20 years he/she retires for good and gives away for the youth. Currently we find that one has retired from a certain ministry or work immediately we find an old mama or baba who is good financially because he/she has been an Member of Parliament (MP) or a ministry, for a fact I don’t think the government focuses on empowering the youth. We find that many of the students’ graduates are outside there, they have everything in terms of professions but you leave them instead of appointing the youth when the adults retires.
Indeed a sad moment of the youths of this country….. The appointment of the Former Othaya Member of Parliament (MP) Mary Wambui to head a National Employment Authority is spat on the face of the Kenyan youth; does Wambui even have the remotest idea of what it certificates yet you can’t find a job with it.
Fellow Kenyans especially when voting we find that you normally vote for those celebrities who have money and have been in leadership or in any organization may you vote for youths especially the graduate stop voting old. In fact the rate at which academic dwarfs are succeeding in this country, will soon render degrees useless. How do you explain to your kid why drop outs are guzzling around with high end luxurious V8 engines while fellows with PhDs can’t find work or eat decent meal?
Policy and legal frame work: the government in collaboration with county government and stake holders shall develop, review and implement relevant policies and regulatory framework to ensure smooth and efficient participatory approach in youth programs and activities.
Under Competence Based Curriculum: it is curriculum that emphasizes the complex outcomes of learning process (i.e. knowledge, skills and attitudes to be applied by learners are expected to learn about in terms of traditionally defined subjects content.
One of the key benefits of Competence Based curriculum (CBC) is; that learning centers on real words skills and competencies that are needed for particular career ensuring that the material is relevant. The outcome is that this students are workplace ready and have expertise in their chosen field.
First and foremost competency based learning focuses on their own pace collaborate with others collect evidence of learning and become successful lifelong learners. But all of this significant the Kenyan government and our leaders we a focus on this.
Global youth ambassador your time is almost up what have you done? Change your perception of young people they may wear expensive watches or drive expensive cars like that you use to see around you and they are the one that you appoint many times.
Mathew Ochachi
Journalism Student