The Education Cabinet Secretary, Ezekiel Machogu has decried the low uptake of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related course among students.
The CS who was speaking during the official opening of the 60th Kenya Science and Engineering Fair at Moi Girls High School on April 8, noted that despite the obvious benefits of STEM course to the socio-economic development of the country, its uptake has been much less than the Humanities and Social Sciences.
He added that students pursuing STEM related disciplines account for less than a quarter of the courses offered at TVETs institutions and Universities.
He called upon the Science Fair to be the centre of hope to trigger students’ interest in STEM and popularise the courses among tertiary and University students.
“Therefore, it is my desire that this trade fair continues to be a strong vehicle that would trigger students’ interest in STEM, spur innovation and creative, and popularise the courses among learners to ensure we have more students taking up careers in STEM at tertiary and University level,” CS Machogu said.
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The Education CS shared his observation in the most recent graduations at TVETs and Universities where there were less than 25 per cent graduands coming from STEM courses, adding that this situation threatens the Kenya’s effort of achieving a middle income and industrialised nation status by 2030.
Machogu disclosed that the Government in its effort to boost STEM discipline has established various bodies to drive Science, Technology and Innovation agenda in the country.
These bodies include National Commission for Science as well as Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI), with the mandate to regulate and assure quality in the science, technology and innovation sector and also advise the Government on the same, the National Research Fund (NRF) to fund research activities and Kenya Innovation Agency (KeNIA) which will promote development and commercialisation of innovation ideas and research.
The CS further said the Government continues to fund the research activities, stating that the current funding stands at 0.8 per cent of GDP, which is away ahead of our peers in Africa.
“We have proposed in the draft National Educational Sector Plan (2023-2027) to increase funding to 2 per cent of the GDP,” he said.
The CS said Kenya is an innovation hub in Africa, as evidenced by her performance in Global Innovation index (GII) in 2022 which show Kenya ranked 88 out of 132 countries and 13th among the 36 lower-middle-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, it was ranked 4th out of 27 countries.
At the same time Kenya was ranked at number 62 globally and 3rd in Africa by the Global Start-up Ecosystem Index.
The CS challenged students present at the Science Fair to work extra hard to make Kenya proud globally.
By Brian Ndigo
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