By Andanje Wakhungu
At a time when the government is encouraging enrolment into technical colleges by young people across the country, some of them are yet to realize that the training is being fully funded by the government. Most of them yearn for white-collar jobs, lavish lifestyles and living in leafy suburbs in the city, the thought of having hands-on practical skills that could earn them a living is not on their minds.
Most classrooms at vocational and technical training colleges remain half empty especially in engineering departments, as most of those who enrol opt for business courses like human resources, marketing, secretarial and social work. However, a few that discovered the importance of skilled labour are taking a stab at engineering courses and making a kill once they are through with their education as jobs are readily available, especially in engineering, mechanical, civil electrical, plumbing, welding, masonry, building and construction, they are spoilt for choice as they cannot satisfy the vast growing market.
One such graduate is Gerald Mutali who has beaten the odds and taken the leap of faith to train as a technician, he is about to make a big breakthrough with his innovations consisting of a radio frequency wave switch and a drying line that uses magnetic wavelength to push the wet clothes to the sunlight and still remove the dried ones from it too.
He says his love for innovation and science has pushed him to try out any new idea that pops into his mind now and then. The current lab technician at Friends Mugai secondary school Kakamega North sub-county who just completed his Kenya school of TVET in Nairobi is gearing up to begin his teaching practice at Mugai beginning next month.
Having been brought up in a humble homestead by his grandparents (now late), he sat for his KCPE in 2002 at Malava primary school after which he joined Mugai in 2003 but eventually dropped out, he stayed out of school for two years before a teacher Mr Mageso Mathews accommodated him back in school in 2006 before sitting for his KCSE in 2007 but was asked to rewrite by the then Principal Laban Sikolia and sciences teacher John Wekesa where he managed a university entry grade but he joined Kisumu polytechnic where he pursued a Diploma in analytical chemistry completing in 2016.
Murali then joined the Kenya School of TVET through the assistance of immediate former Mugai principal Henry Litu as a technical trainer in analytical chemistry which he completed in 2023 April to commence a teaching practice but deferred due to fee arrears and has been working as a lab technician to offset his pending arrears of which he has cleared and ready to go for practice next month.
He points out that education is the best equalizer because through it he has been able to meet prominent personalities and called on young people to invest in technical education instead of engaging in politics where they are used to cause mayhem during campaigns as he looks forward to be among the top country innovators.
In one of his latest projects he innovated a radio frequency wave switch in 2013, where he has an emitter that releases high magnitude radio frequency waves before the detector picks them gives out a voltage of 8 into the polarity charger then passes through the alternating current motor where it further motor then clockwise completing the circuit and hence lighting the bulb and anticlockwise to breaking the circuit at the same time by igniting the connecting gang on and or off through the use of a connecting arm being in contact with the stopper.
At the same time, he is further working on inventing an automatic drying line that requires a source of power operated by electrolysis reaction having an electoral in a solid state such as copper 2 sulphate which when wet, ionizes into copper 2hydrate ions sulphate ions and hydroxide ions which then completes the circuit affecting the drying line to automatically move wet clothes towards the sunlight and when there’s no sun, a prota sensor switch is connected to the line hence dictating it to remove the dry clothes to a shed.
He has applauded the move by the government to invest in technical and vocational training as one way of equipping young people with the necessary skills that will enable them to be self-reliant.
