| dc.description.abstract | It is estimated that over 61% (6,710,000) youths aged between 15-35 years are jobless
and living below poverty line (Census report, 2009). About 92% of these youth lack
vocational or professional training demanded by our agricultural based economy. The
role played by youth polytechnics in the development of our country is crucial and
therefore the need to improve training of youth polytechnics graduates in order for them
to be efficient and effective in their service delivery is now more than ever. Technical
training is a systematic development of knowledge and attitudes required of YP graduates
to perform adequately on a given task or job and therefore the youth polytechnic should
be able to train their trainees adequately and prepare them for world of work. Based on
the above facts, the project investigated the factors influence equipping of youth with
technical and entrepreneurial skills in youth polytechnics in Embu County. The study
aimed at establishing and determining the extent to which entry qualifications of youth
polytechnic trainees, teaching and learning equipment’s used by trainees and industrial
attachment of the YP trainee’s influences equipping of youth with technical and
entrepreneurship skills in youth polytechnics in Kenya. The study adapted a descriptive
survey research design and used descriptive statistics models to analyze the data. The
target population for the study was the County director of youth training, the youth
polytechnic managers, youth polytechnic instructors and youth polytechnic trainees. A
sample size of 80 was used. Questionnaires were used to collect qualitative data to
ensure reliability and validity; however quantitative techniques were applied to
communicate results where applicable. The data collected was analyzed to establish the
relationship between independent variable with the dependent variable. The results
revealed that entry qualifications of the trainees, teaching and learning materials used and
industrial attachment contributed significantly to equipping of youth with technical and
entrepreneurial skills training of YP trainees. The analysis established that that majority
of the youth polytechnic trainee’s had Kenya certificate of primary education as their
highest academic qualifications before enrolling in the polytechnic and that entry
qualifications before enrolling in the polytechnic played a role in boosting effective skills
training and that appropriate teaching and learning equipment and materials assist
trainees in acquiring skills training to a very large extent. The study also established that
that industrial attachment enhanced their technical training of youth polytechnic trainees
and provided practical application of skills, safety, consciousness and interpersonal skills
needed in world of work. The study concluded that promotion of technical and vocational
education and training for industrialization, economic development and wealth creation
and poverty eradication is now need more than ever and therefore youth polytechnics
have a key role to play and cannot be ignored any more. The government must realize in
principle that development of youth polytechnic education system is a key component for
Kenya economic development. | en_US |
