Abstract:
The study aimed at investigating the determinant for demand for technical and vocational training among youth in Kajiado County. The study used a mixed method design of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Empirical figures of student enrolment were obtained using standardized formula, followed by in-depth interviews about their study habits and attitude towards TVET. A sample of 119 was drawn using stratified random sampling. The target population for this study comprised of all students enrolled in youth polytechnics in Kajiado County. The focus was only on students in the polytechnics. Quantitative and qualitative forms of data was linked for three reasons: first for confirming and corroborating each other; secondary for elaborating or developing analysis, providing richer details and third for initiating new line of thinking through attention of new ideas coming up as well as and providing fresh insight (Rosmann and Wilson (quoted in Miles & Huberman, 1994). The study was confined to the natural settings and attempted to interpret phenomenon in terms of the meaning that people will bring as asserted by Denzin and Lincon (2005). The study applied a descriptive cross-sectional survey as its quantitative design. According to Cooper and Schindler (2003), the research design is appropriate if the study is concerned with finding out what, when, and how much of phenomenon. The study findings indicate that, demand for TVET programmes, is affected by all the predictors (that is skills competitiveness; socio-economic status; household attitude; social networking; and socio-cultural factors). A further look into the regression results indicated that demand for TVET would be considerably low if all the independent variables were rendered absent. Additional analysis indicates that increasing any of the independent variables would positively change the level of demand for TVET. From the test of hypothesis, it was revealed that there is a significant relationship between skills competitiveness; socio-economic status; household attitude; social networking; as well as and the demand for TVET among the youth in Kajiado County. The study recommends that, Parents and students should build networks with members of the society who are of higher economic status to enhance the ability of the graduates to gain opportunities in the labor market. The Government should enhance TVET awareness campaigns and publicity geared towards change of the perception. To link skills development and world of work, government should incorporate incubation centres within training institution as well as enhance mentorship programmes
