Stephen Musungu
The National Youth Service (NYS) is still the same and keeps on providing the same old good training courses that contribute to the development of the youth in the country by making them skilled and ready for employment or to start their own business. Along with the basic courses such as technical training and community service skills, NYS also has special programmes that respond to the needs of different sectors of the economy.
Discipline and leadership are among the main programmes at NYS, which form the basis of induction and character development. The goal of these basic courses is to make the users of the service to be professional, to work in teams, and to be resilient — traits that are among the most wanted ones in both private and public sectors.
NYS in a technical field supplies the requisite skills for work in or with the following areas: construction, building technology, automotive mechanics, and electrical installation, and telecommunications (ICT).
The latter are considered to be the most important ones for skilled technicians in industries, thus NYS has come up with such a structured course that combines both hands-on practice and theoretical knowledge.
Part of agriculture and agribusiness teaching is the NYS policy. Students become familiar with the latest trends in farming, livestock management, production of food crops, and doing business in the agriculture sector.
The target of these classes is to provide the young generation with a skill set that could be used for the purpose of ensuring better food supplies and supporting agribusiness startups throughout the country.
NYC also puts up different courses related to the arts and the service industry that might be of interest to the young trainees such as hospitality and tourism, catering and food production along with customer service and communication skills. These courses allow the youth to develop the needed reputation for win-win situations not only in the hotel, restaurant, and customer-oriented industries but even in travel agencies.
The competition for entry into the training programmes of the New York State is quite tough and only those candidates who fulfill all the requirements of the specific course will be considered. Generally, a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) with at least a pass or an equivalent qualification is the baseline for admission into the majority of the courses. Some technical and specialised programmes may ask for grades in particular subjects or previous training in the area.
It is highly recommended that the potential candidates should first go through the official NYS intake guidelines before submitting their applications since the requirements might be a bit different from one programme to another and by the intake cycle.
Normally, the recruitment procedure encompasses the filling of an application form, the checking of academic documents and the conducting of a selection interview or an assessment. The candidates who make it through the selection are then allocated to the induction sessions and the training tracks of their choice.
The NYS training is a win-win in the sense of personal development and career options. Most graduates of the technical programmes get jobs in the areas of construction, automotive services, electrical installations and ICT support roles, while the hospitality and agribusiness streams might apply for jobs in tourism, food services and farm management areas.
Moreover, NYS not only trains its students for acquiring technical skills, but also inculcates traits of discipline, national pride and community service amongst them. A good number of the alumni have built successful businesses, secured jobs in the formal sector or continued their education in higher institutions or specialized training.
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