EDUCATION AND YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN KENYA

Conventionally, “School” is perceived as the most important means of preparing young people for the future. African scholars use the term “school” to refer to the educational system in all its forms. With such level of significance education is seen as one of the main determinants of unemployment rate given that it equips young people with skills for economic and life survival. This is why most studies have found strong link between educational level and employment rate.

However, education in African countries, and Kenya in particular, is less effective in providing young people with employable and life skills. This gap is orchestrated by many factors from primary to higher education. From the formative stages children attend schools in conditions that seem to “brutalize” them physically and psychologically. These range from learning facilities (mostly dilapidated or non-existent), nutrition is boarding schools, and most recently ‘commercialization’ of education through remedial classes at extra costs, selling national exam leakages, and teachers demanding sexual favours for marks. These are cases that have been frequently reported in Kenya.  These challenges kill the morale of learners in pursuit of education. 

Pupils during a class session in Kibera Slums

 To parents in Kenya, especially in rural setting, education and success in life are synonymous; implying a well paying job, a big house and cars among other fringe benefits. As a result, high unemployment rate among young graduates discourages pupils in lower levels since education attainment is no longer the gatekeeper success. Most young people therefore fail to invest in higher education.

Consequently, the disenchantment in higher education is counter-productive. Studies have established relationship between educational rates of return and unemployment rate.  The explanation goes that when young people invest in their education they decrease their unemployment opportunity cost. That is to say, there is lower risk of unemployment at higher levels of education because educated workers find new jobs or adapt to workforce market easily as a result of job training and market demand. Also, human resource practitioners point out that educated workers are efficient in seeking new jobs and bargaining for more wages.

 

Graduands unleashed into job market

Contrarily, a study by African Development Bank (AfDB) reveals that young people with highest education levels tend to take long to search for a job and have higher unemployment rates than those who are less well educated. The trend is blamed on high wage expectation coupled with unwillingness to take up jobs in the informal sector.

Further, a study in Kenya by a renowned social researcher, Awuor Ponge, revealed miss-match between skills possessed by young workers and those demanded by employers. The study recommends that educational system in terms of vocation and technical training must be transformed to provide youth with relevant skills to adapt to labour market. In line with this finding, AfDB observes that institutions of higher learning (in Kenya) equip the students with theoretical knowledge and are not cognizant of the fact that the demands of job market are changing with time.

It is little wonder that most employers put up as prerequisite for some appointments age limit and extensive experience. As such young people are locked out. This is worrying for the reason that 1.2 million young Kenyans enter labour market without formal training. According to Kenya Country Report for the Ministerial Conference on Youth Employment in 2014, at age 24 only 11% of young Kenyans have formal training. Policy makers must devise ways of continually reviewing curriculum to respond to skill levels demanded by dynamic labour market. Education must cease being mere numeracy and literacy. 

Shem Sam is researcher and statistician. He is also youth and governance specialist. shem.sam@gmail.com Mobile: +254712505196