- The National Youth Service (NYS) has lowered the minimum Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) mean grade requirement from D plain to D- (minus), to broaden the scope of future recruitments and offer more opportunities to Kenyan youth
- During his testimony before the National Assembly Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunities, NYS Director General James Tembur highlighted that this adjustment aims to create a fairer environment for all young individuals, regardless of their background or circumstances
- The implementation of this new directive is slated to take effect in the upcoming hiring season
the National Youth Service (NYS) has dropped the minimum Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) mean grade from the existing D plain to D- (minus), in an effort to include more Kenyans in future recruitments.
In testimony before the National Assembly Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunities, NYS Director General James Tembur said the proposed action will level the playing field for all young people, irrespective of their circumstances.
He reiterated that the new instruction would be put into effect during the upcoming hiring season.
“The Ministry has lowered the mean grade to enable youths from disadvantaged communities to have an opportunity to join NYS,” Tembur told the Aden Yusuf Haji-led Committee.
The legislators applauded the action but asked the director general to make sure that spaces are distributed fairly around the nation.
The MP for Nyeri Town, Duncan Mathenge, also noted that NYS had attracted a lot of interest after President William Ruto announced that KDF recruits would come from the organization.
“The president’s directive has heightened interest in joining NYS, making transparency and equal distribution of slots during recruitment crucial,” stated Mathenge.
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The members of Parliament expressed apprehension that specific prerequisites would hinder several enthusiastic candidates from enlisting in the service.
Aside from achieving a specific score on the KCSE exam, applicants need to fulfill additional requirements in order to be considered for specific positions.
Candidates must specifically be born citizens of Kenya, be between the ages of 18 and 24, be in good physical health, and be able to present a certificate of good behavior from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The session’s chair, Nakuru County MP Liza Chelule, commended NYS for taking disability-related applicants into consideration for their most recent hiring.
“You have done better at including people living with disabilities than most of the state institutions that appear before this Committee to address the same,” noted Chelule.
Nonetheless, the DG came under fire from NYS for failing to include any disabled people on its council.
Tembur reported to the Committee that there were 2,201 officers in the service overall, of which 1,525 were men and 676 women.
“We have promoted 944 male and 510 female officers. Fourteen of the officers we promoted were disabled,” he stated.
