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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Alternative Forms of Education and Training in Africa: Youth Polytechnics in Kenya and Brigades in Botswana |
Author: | Lillis, Kevin M. |
Year: | 1994 |
Periodical: | Africana Journal |
Volume: | 16 |
Pages: | 144-173 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Kenya Botswana |
Subjects: | rural development civic service vocational education Education and Oral Traditions Development and Technology |
Abstract: | On the one hand, manpower of sufficient quantity and quality has been produced to enable rapid economic growth in many African States. On the other hand, there are insufficient institutional links between education and modern-sector jobs, and educational systems have expanded far faster than the absorptive capacities of the modern sectors of the economy. The continued exacerbation of unemployment has led to the search for viable alternative strategies of education and training. This essay examines two well-known developments: Youth Polytechnics in Kenya and Brigades in Botswana. The Kenyan polytechnics (originally Village Polytechnics, VPs) emerged in the 1960s as an experimental measure to meet the problems of training young people to play constructive roles in the task of rural development. They were also perceived as a means of alleviating unemployment. The idea of the Botswanan Brigades originated in 1963. The Brigades were meant to assist rural primary-school leavers to acquire a diversity of skills that they could use profitably in their village. The paper looks at the goals and features of the programmes, their achievements, and constraints on their implementation. Ref. |