| dc.description.abstract | This study investigates some of the major factors which influence
the local employment of Youth Polytechnic graduates in Machakos District.
The study is based on the hypothesis that the individual Youth
Polytechnic graduate's personal characteristics, parental background, and
the agro-ecological potential of his/her home area affect the graduate's
ability to obtain gainful employment in the local area.
A sample of 128 respondents, all Youth Polytechnic graduates
residing or working in their home areas, were traced and interviewed.
These respondents were drawn purposively from 8 Youth Polytechnics - 4
from high potential areas and 4 from low potential areas distributed over
Machakos District. Eight Youth Polytechnic managers were also interviewed.
The key instrument of data collection was the ,interview schedule, which
was used in both instances. However, unstructured interviews were also
administered to key informants.
The study found that the majority of the respondents were in.
gainful employment in their home areas, although the percentage of those
in wage employment was higher than that of those in self-employment.
This phenomenon was attributed to the fact that most trainees graduated
at a tender age before they could develop a sense of responsibility or win
public confidence. Besides, most graduates hailed from impoverished socioeconomic backgrounds, hence their parents could not afford to assist them
with the initial working capital and tools which are requisites for self-
employment
It was further found that the Youth Polytechnics cater predominantly
for primary school graduates and dropouts. However, it was
observed that trainees with secondary school education were slowly infiltrating
into the programme. This was seen as a trend that would eventually
stultify the original objective of the Youth Polytechnic programme, which
was basically to cater for primary school leavers and dropouts.
Female graduates were found to show a low rate of employment
vis-a-vis their male counterparts. Other factors found to be influencing
the graduate's ability to acquire local employment were the graduate's
age, education level, length of time since graduation, attitude towards
the training, the period of training, personal aspirations in terms of
potential workplace and type of work, and the ogre-ecological potential
of the graduates' home area.
However, the type of Youth Polytechnic attended and the possession
of a trade test certificate were found to have no significant influence
on the graduates' ability to acquire local gainful employment.
It was concluded that the main objective of YPs should be to offer
technical training to all school leavers without regard to where they should
work and what type of work they should do. It was also recommended that
the YP movement should be expanded to accommodate primary and secondary
school leavers without disadvantaging either group, and that YP instructors
should monitor the changing local communities' needs in order to avert
saturation of the local labour markets with skills which are not immediately
in demand.
Finally, it was felt that the YP training should be harmonized
with the 8.4.4 education system to prevent a potentially competitive
situation arising in the very near future. | en |
