The education and research committee chair Julius Melly has clarified the notion that students who go to technical and vocational institutes are failures.
Melly who is also Tinderet MP said the skills acquired in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions are useful even to graduates.
The committee chair was speaking during a conference on Bridging Innovation for Learning in TVET for hospitality and tourism.
"Get rid of the attitude and make sure that those graduates need to go TVETs to acquire skills," Melly said.
The legislator committed to dealing with inadequate funding in TVETs which he said is the greatest challenge in the sector.
TVETs and vocational training institutes were allocated Sh1.8 billion for the construction and equipping of the institutions in the financial year 2022/2023.
This was the same amount allocated last year.
"Bilateral agreements have assisted in skilling teachers and purchase of equipment," he added.
This year some 16,310 candidates who qualified for degree programmes in the 2021 KCSE examination did not submit applications and may have opted to pursue other opportunities.
Another 5,278 were placed in TVET institutions by choice.
In 2021, a total of 250,052 students submitted their applications for placement to universities, TVET institutions and Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs).
