According to Matiang’i, the country’s development agenda could face a major impediment given the current state of affairs in the education sector/CFM NEWS
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 2 – Universities in the country have been challenged to review their curriculum in order to ensure they are relevant to the nation’s development agenda.
While giving his remarks during the 56th graduation ceremony of the University of Nairobi, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i challenged universities to review their curriculum in order to align them to Vision 2030 which targets to achieve a middle income status for the nation.
“The relevance of our education system has to be underpinned within the country’s national objectives,” he said.
“Kenya Vision 2030 aims to transform Kenya into a newly industrialised middle income country proving a high quality life to all its citizens by the year 2030. This calls for our education system to align itself to the demands of a developing and industrialised nation.”
According to Matiang’i, the country’s development agenda could face a major impediment given the current state of affairs in the education sector where studies have shown a decline in the number of students taking up science and technical courses which are vital for the country to achieve its middle income status.
“The number of students enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses in our universities is probably a third of the entire student population,” noted Matiang’i. “This is not a promising sign for a country that wishes to speed up and fast track the middle income status.”
He challenged the University of Nairobi to take a leading role in reviewing the courses taught in universities in the nation in order to expedite the realisation of the middle income status by the year 2030.
“We must think hard about the courses we offer in our universities,” he challenged the university leadership requesting academic leaders to ” lead other institutions to relook and redesign the curriculum and the programmes we’re offering in our universities to meet our development needs as we move forward.”
The call for reforms in the education system at the university level by Matiang’i comes a day after Capital Media Group Chairman Chris Kirubi challenged universities in the county to do research in order to find out what the job market needs so as to formulate better curriculums that would assure university graduates secure jobs upon graduation.
“Do a research and find out what the market wants,” he said during Machakos University’s first graduation ceremony yesterday. “Please create courses that will acquire this people jobs to develop the economy of this nation.”
According to the renowned businessman, most universities in the country were yet to adopt technical courses which are vital to propelling the economy of the nation forward.
“We have students who sit at home because they studied the wrong thing,” he noted appealing to universities in the republic to review the courses they offer in order to ensure that they provide skills relevant to the market.
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