Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Kenya National Association of Private Colleges (KENAPCO) has urged the government to save the sector by including them in development partner’s grants and affordable loans.

KENAPCO Secretary General Ekra Ndung’u said that grants will go a long way in cautioning loss of over 450,000 jobs of both teaching and non-teaching staff owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

She also said private Technical and Vocational Education and Training Institutions (Tvets) should be included in post coronavirus committees to bring them up to share industry experiences.

“Private TVETs solely depend on tuition fees paid by students to run all their day to day operations and meeting fixed financial obligations of rent payments, salaries and other operational expenditure and including servicing bank loans,” said Ndung’u in a 10-page document on standard operating procedures for re-opening TVET institutions during coronavirus pandemic.

Just like private primary and secondary schools, Ndung’u said the closure forced private TVETs to send all their staff on unpaid leave affecting thousands of families who are now left without an income.

“Private TVETs are at the brink of collapsing as the pandemic continue to ravage our country economically and socially,” added Ndung’u.

Statistics indicate that there are 825 registered private TVET institutions with over 260,000 students registered in the said TVET institutions, employing over 450,000 staff both directly and indirectly. 

She said reopening colleges in the wake of the pandemic will not be easy and will require coordination between all stakeholders.