Deputy President William Ruto has expressed concerns over a low number of students joining Technical Training Institutions (TTIs) across the country.
Speaking in Eldoret on Saturday when he presided over the launch of Kesses Youth Sponsorship Programme that will see 700 students from the constituency join Eldoret National Polytechnic, Ruto lamented that a majority of parents prefer their students joining universities than technical institutions.
“At the moment, universities have a huge population of 600,000 students while TTIs have only 100,000 students only across the country," he noted.
The DP pointed out that the government is closing the gap on vocational training to produce more graduates with technical skills to address the Big Four development agenda.
He said already 130 new technical colleges have been built across the country.
“The new colleges will admit 120,000 students from September. Each of those students will be offered Sh30,000 bursary and Sh40, 000 loan as we ramp up enrollment. This pool of talent will drive the wheels of the economy and enhance job and wealth creation,” said Ruto.
The area MP who sponsored the program Dr Swarup Mishra said his aim is to ensure youths are empowered by acquiring technical skills which will help them earn a living.
“I am working to ensure that the program becomes sustainable and revolves to cover as many of our youths as possible. I will not sit back and watch the youth suffer in depression due to hardships, lack of job opportunities and lack of school fees,” he said the first-term MP.
During the function, the MP also commenced the dairy cow program as pledged in his campaigns where he gave out 100 cows for the first phase of the program.
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