Female students’ access to technical education through ICT: a case of kiambu county, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to establish the effect of communication through ICT on female students’ access to technical education in Kiambu County, Kenya. The general objective was to establish effect of communication through ICT on female students’ access to technical education in Kiambu County, Kenya. The Specific objectives were; to establish the linkage between communication through ICT and female students’ access to technical education in Kiambu County, Kenya; to determine the statistics of female students’ access to technical education in Kiambu County, Kenya; and to investigate the factors influencing female students’ access to technical education in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population was the 200 female students in TTIs in Kiambu County and the sample size was 100 female students who were sampled using stratified sampling technique. The primary data was collected using a questionnaire while secondary data was obtained from the TTI registers for 2013 - 2015. In analyzing the quantitative data, the study used descriptive statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Version 21) while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The multiple linear regression analysis was also used. The findings show that ICT is being implemented by educational institutions in Kenya including TTIs, e.g. The laptop project. However, implementation gap still exist in the extent to which ICT is being utilized in improving female students access to information on technical education. There is a linkage between communication through ICT and female students’ access to technical education in Kiambu County, Kenya. The use of communication through ICTs by TTIs in Kiambu County significantly increased access to technical education among prospective female students. Female students’ access to technical education in Kiambu County is still very low as shown by low enrolment, high drop-out, and low completion and transition rates. The key factors influencing female students’ access to technical education include; affordability, staff remuneration and motivation, attitude, lack of reliable IT infrastructure and government policy. The TTIs should scale up marketing and communicating through social media and allocate adequate budget to implement communication through ICT strategy towards enhancing female students’ access to technical education. The government through the Ministry of Education should conduct a nation-wide campaign sensitizing female students to enroll for technical education.