An investigation titled ‘Certificates of Doom’ by a local television station in January has hit Nairobi Aviation College Kisii campus severely, with the college recording a mass exodus of students.
The investigation, carried out by NTV’s Dennis Okari, exposed the rot in the education system in the institution with some students allegedly acquiring certificates even without ever stepping in a lecture hall.
On Tuesday, the institution’s Kisii town director Kelvin Makori said over 70% of students have left the college following the documentary, as the figure dropped substantially from 520 to now less than 150 who are officially in the school.
He said many of those who left had expressed their disappointments and vowed to search for other ‘suitable’ institutions that could offer quality education.
“I really don’t know what to say since the episode was directly detrimental to the institution. I used to handle around 500 students and now the figure is appalling. Indeed the episode dealt us a blow even though it was not authentic,” he said.
“Many of them approached me and expressed their anger saying the institution’s reputation had been questioned hence it wasn’t important for them to continue staying,” he said.
The college, which was barely three months by then in Kisii town, appeared promising given the large number of students who had enrolled in the short duration.