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Higher Education Course Selection

By Dr. Paul Bundi Karau

we owe it to our youth to tell them the truth about course selection. Here's one case which represents the dilemma our brothers go through
A young lady called me this afternoon (after seeing my earlier post on careers). She scored a C plain in 2016 KCSE, and applied for KUCCPS courses (IT, Banking and Finance, Business Information Technology, ALL DIPLOMAS). Unfortunately, she wasn't selected for any of them. Now she seeks advise on what to do
Here is my take ((Disclaimer: I'm not implying that I have all answers, that's why I invite discussion):
1. Advising on course selection is a double-edged sword. The student must love and deeply understand the courses you suggest. Otherwise, people can blame you in future for leading them to a dead end.
2. Technical courses, which the government is heavily funding, are the future of this country.
3. This person chose banking because she believes she will be employed in a bank/financial institution. Yet currently, banks are retrenching people due to redundancies occasioned by innovative/disruptive IT applications. Loans. cash transactions etc are now done on mobile phones. Therefore the IT diploma to me is a better option.
4. I did a quick check on courses on offer at Meru, Mombasa National Polytechnics.
5. I would advise a C student who is brave and raring to go to choose diploma courses in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, plumbing, construction, interior design, IT, quantity surveying, plant engineering, fashion design ETC.
6. These courses fill a critical need in a developing economy, and offer the student a chance in either employment or enterprise. Again, these courses offer a rare chance for innovativeness and creativity
7. Let's make use of our polytechnics. According to CEO HELB, Mr Ringera, Kenyan polytechnics are well equipped, yet don't have students because people are looking at glittering career options. Not all that glitters is gold

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