Abstract:
Development of a countries economy greatly depends on human resource that is well equipped with the
appropriate skills and training that can manage and steer growth of industries. Technical Vocational Education
(TVET) has over the years been identified as efficient training strategy that can empower societies with the right
skills thus enabling growth of informal and formal industries especially in developing countries. However in Kenya,
the type of technical/vocational education offered before independence created a negative attitude where few
students opt for technical/vocational education. This crippled creativity, innovation and acquisition of
entrepreneurial skills, which is vital to the development of technologies that would lead to rural industrialization.
Youth polytechnics have been identified as major centers for youth development and training, yet receive very low
enrolment. Conversely there is a large number of idle and untrained youth in rural areas. This study investigated
the influence of community attitudes towards Technical/Vocational Education on students' enrolment for training
in the youth polytechnics in Gatundu district in Central Kenya. This paper singles out community attitudes as a key
factor leading to low enrolment. The population of the study included community members from Gatundu district.
Purposive, sampling techniques were used to select the study sample. An interview schedule was the instrument
used for data collection. Content analysis was applied on the qualitative data collected. The findings indicated that
negative community attitudes and poor image on youth polytechnics emerged as a major factor that highly
influenced enrolment levels. These findings are likely to stimulate action on the restructuring the management of
youth polytechnics to raise public appeal. This will position youth polytechnics as institutions that focus on
addressing community needs and employment creation.
