The Church and Human Promotion in Technical Education
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Date
1998-04
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
The subject of this essay is technical education. The Church has always shown a keen
interest in the development of technical education. When talking of the Church, we are
particularly referring to the Catholic Church, whose major aim is at creating and elevating the
dignity of the poor, and raising their status in the Kenyan society as elsewhere. The Church aims
at making a major contribution to the objectives above, through involvement in technical
education, hence the titteThe Church and I luman Promotion in Technical Education'.
This essay is an attempt to bring out the contribution and role of the Church in technical
education, and the challenges facing this education in Kenya at present. My main aim in
' exploring this area is to provide some elements of reflection on these challenges, not only for
local Churches and religious institutes, but also for the Kenyan government. I also hope to offer
some possible orientations and proposals for action to improve technical education in institutions
that are already in existence.
The essay is as a result of both primary and secondary data collection. Primary sources
of information involved: going out and visiting different technical training institutions run by the
Church. This included interviewing those in administration of these institutions about the group
of people (street children, orphans, primary or secondary school leavers), they are training;
some government owned institutions were also visited and those in charge were interviewed. The
secondary source of information is mainly from periodicals and a survey on the industrial
training needs assessment and institutional capacity and capability in Kenya prepared by the
Federation of Kenya Employers (EKE).
This essay is divided into three chapters with two sections in each chapter. The
methodology followed in this study is that of see, judge and act.
In chapter one, I have attempted to give the meaning, role and trace the history of
technical education in Kenya. It is a fact that the history of this education cannot be written
without reference to the Christian missionaries and the colonial government. All these, up to the
present existing institutions offering technical education in Kenya, will be seen in the first
section. That the Church has always been concerned in the development of technical education
is clearly set out in the second section of chapter one. This concern stems from the vision of her mission to care for the poor. To pursue this concern, the Church has contributed to this
education through her dioceses, parishes and religious congregations in Kenya, by setting up
technical training institutions. Some of these institutions are strictly for the Church, and others
are in partnership between the Church and the government of Kenya. They include youth
polytechnics, Christian vocational training centres and technical training institutes among others.
We cannot treat the Church owned
government due to partnership pointed above.
does she control the policies concerned with
institutions separately from those run by the
Moreover the Church has no monopoly, neither
technical education in Kenya. For this reason,
chapter two examines sonic of the challenges facing technical education in Kenya. Section one
of this chapter deals with technical training institutions while section two is concerned with
disharmonies that underlie technical training in Kenya.
In response to the challenges pointed out in chapter two, concrete measures and proposals
to improve technical education have been discussed in chapter three in the first section. Citizens
of any country need a training that will enable them earn a living and transform their lives. It
is in this context that the Church insists on the promotion of training for transformation. Hence
section two gives the Church some guidelines in this underlying task.
Finally, there is a curious illusion that a more complete research is possible when there
is less to know. My point here is that no course of study, neither does this essay claim any
position of ideal completeness nor are the omitted facts of surbodinate importance. Therefore,
this essay is only but a stepping stone to further research.
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Keywords
Technical Education, Church, education