A Study On The Reform Of Vocatioanal And Technical Education In Kenya Since The Twenty First Century

According to the latest report of the global human capital index,developed countries such as Norway,Finland,Switzerland,the United States,Germany and Sweden are ranked in the top,and the related vocational and technical education(VTE)has always been at the forefront of the world.The lag of it in the most developing countries makes the overall human capital competitiveness relatively weak,and the level of economic development is relatively low.Africa is the main gathering place of developing countries in the world.VTE is of great significance for developing human capital,promoting youth employment,increasing incomes,alleviating economic poverty,maintaining social stability and achieving sustainable development.As one of the most influential countries in Africa,Kenya had developed secondary technical education from independence to the end of the 20 th century,established various vocational education and training institutions and incorporated it into the 8-4-4 education system.Entering the new century,the Kenyan economy continued to emerge from the dilemma and achieve steady growth.Meanwhile,the number of young people(15 to 24 years old)was also increasing year by year,leading to a phenomenon of Young Bulge,which made youth unemployment very prominent.The imbalance between the growth of economy and rising of youth unemployment is a significant contradiction in its current society.VTE plays an important role in solving youth employment and entrepreneurship,meeting economic sustainable development and promoting industrial restructuring.Kenya’s Vision 2030 is regarded it as the major engine boosting the economy towards prosperity.However,the unclear structure,the chaotic management system,the shortage of teachers,the lack of funds,and the neglect of skills to design courses make it impossible to cultivate qualifiedskilled-talents for the development of Kenya.Reform is imperative.Simultaneously,it also comply with the development trend of global vocational education reform and the objective requirements for the overall revitalization of vocational education in Africa.Based on the literature analysis and historical research methods,this paper retrospects the development of VTE in Kenya,focusing on the policies,bills and reports on VTE reform of the country since the 21 st century to study reform’s measures and analyze its development effects and challenges.The study finds that its measures mainly include clarifying a school-running system,establishing a management system,expanding the access of students,strengthening the development of teachers,constructing a vocational qualification certificate system,exploiting the competency-based courses and broadening the sources of funds.Effects are primarily reflected in the steady rapid growth of institutions,the balance of the structure and layout of schools,the continuous increase of students’ enrollments,the narrowing of the gender gap between boys and girls,the ascending trend of teachers’ number in public institutions and the obvious improvement of teachers’ level in higher vocational colleges.Challenges are represented in restrictions on family poverty,shortage of funding programs,barriers to traditional cultural perceptions,lack of private sector participation and weak coordination mechanisms between sectors and institutions,etc.Finally,in view of the VTE’s challenges of Kenya,combined with the current status of Sino-Kenya VTE cooperation,unleashing China’s own advantages,the author will propose four suggestions for their VTE in-depth cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative: to strengthen the top-level design for establishing a long-term cooperation mechanism;to coordinate resource development for enhancing comprehensive service capabilities;to combine typical cases for sharing successful development experiences;to encourage multi-participation for improving the whole effectiveness of cooperation.