The effects of the university double intake program in Kenya

  

Date Posted: 1/28/2014 1:03:02 AM

Posted By: Osti  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 944

---

The government introduced a double intake program for institutions of higher learning. This was to deal with the issue of hastening the learning process of post-secondary school students. The students who in the past used to stay at home for two years before joining the universities could now join the university after a shorter period after their KCSE examinations.
This program has had both good and bad results which I will discuss to the level which I have seen around me.

The program has been advantageous in several ways;
It has led to reduction of the number of idle teenagers in the country. Unlike before when students who cleared their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination stayed idle at home for two whole years, the double intake program has led to more students being active in school and not loitering around the villages. The idle minds were sources of vice among the young individuals and this program has surely helped curb that problem.
The program has also led to hastening of the educational process for Kenyans. In the past many youths were to spend two whole years doing nothing at home and as a result lose the vigor of studying. The double intake has enabled the youths who while still fresh from school continue with their studies with equal strength uncorrupted by discontinuity unlike in the past. The youths perform better in the universities for their minds are still active in absorbing educational matters.

There has been enough space for those who do not qualify to join universities to decide on whether to repeat their form four study to perform better or join other technical colleges unlike before. The huge amount of time that youths spent after KCSE made some quit school when the results came out negative.
There has also been an increase in the

number of new universities due to the large numbers of student s joining universities. More students are willing to do their choice courses in t]other universities when they fail to reach the cut off points to join the mainstream public universities. The new universities cater for such students.

New courses have been introduced as a result of the quick succession that students join the universities. This is to provide the young students with many options from which to choose to study.

The program has the advantage of allowing students pursue their masters programs at younger ages. This enables faster professional growth unlike the past when students grew old while still in school and get discouraged to pursue further study and settle for family life.

These are just a few of the advantages of the double intake program.

There are also several disadvantages of the program;
The program has led to overpopulation of universities since the new students join the universities while the continuing students are still in session. This leads to problems of water shortages, poor hygiene and general congestion making life harder in the universities especially for the new students who are not yet adapted to harsh life alone.

The program has also proved to be tedious since most universities have been forced to run a crush program where there are no breaks between semesters. This makes learning a tasking program and there is little room for innovation since students are on a tight schedule. This leads to poor teaching since learning is converted into a process of beating deadlines. Graduates will eventually come out “half-baked”.

More minors join the university and the young inexperienced children face many risks and dangers. The students who are apparently immature have difficulty in making choices concerning their living away from the guidance of their parents. Financial planning of some of these students is a big problem and many overspend their money in unimportant ways and you find hungry and frustrated students along the corridors of the university.

The rising number of students has come at a time when the universities were unprepared on proper ways of accommodating the students. Many students join universities and fail to get accommodation and end up stranded about where to stay. This has led to students using the little money meant for their upkeep to rent houses which are often expensive and situated in insecure areas. Some are forced to share small rooms and this has an effect on their studies.
Whilst the government tries to promote the double intake, proper means of handling the process need to be put in place to avoid making life difficult for both the students and the institutions. God bless Kenya.

---

Next: How to avoid bad company in campus
Previous: Several business ideas for Kenyan youths.