Thursday, September 17, 2009

ED-The coice is all the above for your son.

ED,

Am afraid your son may not have a choice but do them all. The thing is Kenyans should learn to accept and be proud of their own.  It's about time we stopped behaving like some nagging man whose wife always tried to please with no success.  It so happened that the morning that the wife gave him boiled eggs for breakfast, he always wished he had his breakfast eggs fried, and same applied on the days he was given fried eggs for breakfast instead.  So one morning, the wife got tired and prepared both but served him with boiled eggs first!  When he complained about them, he was given fried.  Surprisingly, he still wished he had been service with an egg which is half boiled and half fried for breakfast!  Am a little worried about whether American or the British would do where the local ones are not accepted.

The current unemployment situation may also have pushed employees to the wall such that most of them seem to have run out of excuses to give when overwhelmed by the number of qualified job seekers streaming into the job market every time that there is a vacant position.

That reminds me of one of my past jobs where they needed a young graduate to employ as an Admin. Assistant.  I didn't have the qualifications but I applied anyway.  Surprisingly, out of the 17 who were interviewed for the same position, I got the job.  And for the 3 years that I worked for this organization till I opted for greener pastures, I never understood why they insisted on a graduate in the first place for I never came across any challenges that I couldn't handle.  Neither did I understand why they never picked on any of the young graduates who were interviewed on that day.  YES, any of us could.

All in all, local or international, education is very expensive, it is very disturbing and painful when ones efforts and sacrifice to achieve whatever level goes unappreciated simply because they are either local or international.

Another case where employers are not being honest is on the job standards.  The other day I spotted a position re-advertised in the local newspapers.  I thought it would fit my brother's qualifications and before I went ahead and contacted him, I decided to google more about it where I noted it required somebody with background on The Prince2 project management methodology.  I went out of my way purchasing the prince2 software plus all the other related materials online to find out more about it.  To my disappointment, after spending all that much, I have come to realize there is not much difference between the Prince2 thing and the normal PMBOK (Project Management Book of Knowledge) methodology that we study back here in Kenya.  Only that Prince2 is the in thing right now and every organization would like to have something to do with it.  I mean, instead of re-advertising for the same position twice, why would they not just take in somebody with a management background and train on the difference?

So, employers, are we really being honest with ourselves before we start undermining our own?

Cheers.

Carole.

2 comments:

  1. The education system in Kenya needs a serious fixing. Right now I
    wonder if my son should go through the same system or should I invest
    in foreign education. I am seriously considering British or American
    Education. Two weeks ago I met a friend of mine who went to Maseno
    University and he was telling me that the Central Bank of Kenya does
    not recognize MBA's from Kenyan Universities.

    Case and reason being that in Kenya today one single class of MBAs has
    over 300 students. There is simply no time for the professors to mark
    the exams so what happens is to just make all of them pass and
    graduate from the university so that another batch can enroll.

    I also met a friend of mine in Victoria BC, who has a Masters Degree
    in Engineering, a graduate of one of the leading universities in
    Japan. He hasn't gotten a job as yet and he now works as a Supermarket
    attendant at Wallmart. Case in reason being that they do not recognize
    his degree.

    I am trying to get myself into MIT, and shock on me. No papers from
    Kenya count my friends. I have to juggle around the American Education
    before I accumulate the credits to do my MIT Sloans Program at the
    Legatum center.

    NOW My biggest worry is if a Kenyan employer like the CBK will not
    recognize a Kenyan MBA! What is left of our education system?

    Is there any need to take our children in schools in Kenya any more?

    I wonder.
    Thanks Gibson for your dilemma. It has pocked holes on what is ailing
    our society. If we do not fix our education system that is the
    foundation of a prospering society, then we must forget prosperity all
    together.

    Emmanuel Dennis

    ReplyDelete
  2. From: george omondigeorgieomondi@yahoo.com
    Reply-to: nyciv@googlegroups.com
    Date: Wed, Sep 16, 2009
    Subject: How can we make Kenya a darling nation
    amenya.gibson@gmail.com
    Hello People
    Today am in foul mood
    Imagine after 46 years and I having been lucky to study at UON,
    faculty of engineering getting out with a better grade
    1-Am unable to design even a simple road that can help improve Kenya
    but I rush abroad to look for road engineers
    2-Am unable even to make a simple medicine to treat suffering Kenyans
    3-Am unable to treat VIPs as some opt to rush abroad for further
    treatment yet I have been trained to treat people at UON Medical
    school
    4-Am unable to interpret laws that will guide Kenya to be a great
    nation but just for my self interest
    5-Am Unable to make water available to many plus livestock dying etc
    6-Am unable to eliminate hunger and starvation
    7-Am Unable to make Kenyans become a one nation that respect each
    citizen
    8-Am unable to procure goods and services at affordable prices but
    just skim off profits and allow sunstand work to be done
    Did I get a bad education or is me who is just a bad person
    Hata mimi sijui what is wrong

    ReplyDelete