Managing Technical and Vocational Education in Technical Colleges in Rivers State for Youth Empowerment and Sustainable Development

Abstract

This study investigated management of technical and vocational education (TVE) in technical colleges in Rivers State for youth empowerment and sustainable development. Descriptive survey design was adopted and two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study comprised of 138 instructors in the three technical colleges in Rivers State. A sample of 46 instructors representing 33% of the population was drawn through proportionate stratified random sampling technique. A questionnaire entitled: “Management of Technical and Vocational Education in Technical Colleges for youth empowerment and Sustainable Development Questionnaire (MTVETCYESDQ)” developed by the researcher, was used for data collection. The instrument was well validated and the test for reliability using Cronbach alpha method yielded 0.78. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the research questions, while z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study showed that, management of TVE has enhanced youth empowerment and sustainable development in Rivers State by producing trained technicians in electrical/electronics, building construction, auto mechanics, wood work construction among others. The study also revealed that, the challenges of managing TVE for youth empowerment and sustainable development in Rivers State include among others: inadequate instructors; inadequate learning facilities, poor funding and defective curriculum. Based on the findings conclusion was drawn and the following recommendations among others were made: Government should employ more qualified instructors in the technical colleges; government should provide more equipment and modern facilities in technical colleges in Rivers State; and government should encourage more people to attend technical colleges.