UNSHACKLE EDUCATION, MAKE IT INDUSTRY

Future of HR depends upon the present and the way we would go about shaping the human resource not after we have acquired these in our companies and institutions but while they are on the way of being made into a “resource” from being raw source. It is obvious that this means education and the societal outlook that shapes and streamlines our human resource for use in our industry. Kenya is on a fast clip of five percent plus growth adding millions of jobs.

These are not clerical or basic technical jobs mind your which could be picked up and handled by a mindless bunch of youth trained in a lackluster educational environment that teaches them rudiments of education but keeps them in their pens until they grow up adequately to be let out in the open. These range from high pressure front office to highly sophisticated exchange floor, from plumbing and sewage to highly evolved project management, from cab driver to captains of our fast going airline industry, from street corner grocery store to mega malls …. The byword is sophistication and quality.

It is not just desperate demand for human resource but poor HR supplies that is to blame, which itself is the result of insensitive and fragmented education system lacking leadership desperately for decades. Those who set shop earlier thanks to the largesse of the government and vision of some of its right thinking leaders continued in their glass houses of excellence not wanting to venture out to foster and groom capacities and talent in their sphere. The focused higher educational institutions remains islands of excellence while only the Universities that mass produce talent, by their mandate went ahead expanding capacities by setting up colleges resulting in mindless of mass of degree holders with no hope of landing any job.

Even the regulator (KNEC) exacerbated the situation by grossly misusing its role in permitting capacity without quality and in fits and starts wielding the axe, unfortunately to prune potential high quality schools set up by individuals who chose to rather bend the retrograde rules to expand capacities to make some economic sense to stay in business. Even the leadership among the higher educational institutions represented by a host of chambers and associations remained mute observers for decades by pontificating on things to do without getting down to the brass tacks of actually doing it. American Management Association, Singapore Management Institution are a case in point those that do rather than speak about it. The law of the land also treats education still as a charitable activity which would be fine while the government handles the bulk of the educational expenses leaving the rest to a few enlightened individuals.

So what is to be done? Education should be made an industry with unrestricted entry to corporate and professionals as a not for profit commercial enterprise that could continuously reinvest its resources in expanding capacities and qualities capacities and qualities with the shareholders. Capacity expansion and quality should be left to the market forces to decide which can happen by more vigilant industry watch through its associations and self regulation through independent accreditation programmes. The regulator can play a greater and more proactive role in mentoring the industry and guiding it through rules based on more thorough study of the ground realities through constant research and support rather than dictate terms.