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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

PRACTICAL EDUCATION TRICKSTER

 

One of the distinctive facts about DALC EDUCATION is the practical education system. Oborah likes to challenge people to avoid the traditional system where all you do is cram. DALC EDUCATION is the new alternative to this rot. DALC is here to stop the habit of cramming 3 chapters and getting straight A-s.

 

On DALCs website, he says

“ I do not believe in collections of papers “called certificates” but in knowledge that innovates and solves modern complex business, social and scientific problems in “real world” mode.

Never should someone condemn those who never made it to public universities through high school. How about if he/she was sick just before exams or lacked school fees and was in and out school periodically? How about if he/she was not serious at that time because of age or bad peer groups? Is this person a fool? Can he/she have an alternative chance to prove him/herself?”

 During the many meetings he has held, he has told parents that his system works because students go straight to the workplace and write their exams there. Recently, he said that DALC students are taken to an organization on day one where they start solving problems in a real organization in real time.

 

That is music to the ears of any student and parent. It sounds like DALC EDUCATION will give its students an opportunity to intern at a high-flying institution. In the DALC staff manual and meetings he enlightens on his system by saying, “…student goes to an organization for example KCB”. From his example, do you see the impression it creates?

 

He doesn’t say you can go to any enterprise or your local mom and pop store. His example is best understood by looking at KCB where DALC students are supposed to go and work in a department for a couple of months, identify problems and recommend solutions in the form of high powered projects that are so good, Oborah DHL’s them to the UK where the educational experts will mark them to UK standards. He doesn’t want you to have anything that’s local; he wants to bear the UK mark of standards. CAMBRIDGE AND OXFORD quality.

 

DALC students will however testify that enrolling at DALC is basically one long trick. Before you enroll, you might ask Oborah about the companies where you will be sent for the “internship” and his tongue will go into overdrive with all the blue chip companies, big multinationals and companies that every greenhorn dreams off.

 

He might answer your question with something like, “…. Of course, that is no problem. In fact we can link you with Kenya Airways, DHL,CocaCola, KTN, EABL, KCB , BARCLAYS,(OTHER BANKS except equity), PriceWaterhouse, Chandaria Industries. I also know the MD of, he is my neighbour ….” etc etc

 

If you are not easily convinced, he will remove his phone and tell you that he is scrolling through to find the number of one of the prominent HRM’s that he personally knows, he might mention that the KQ HRM is a personal friend and former student. However, the topic will change to something else and the number will not be dialed. At this point, the sale is closed after Oborah’s quick name dropping. The student is asked to enroll and book an appointment to see him for the hookup to the Kenya Airways Human Resource Manager. 

 

Once you are enrolled as a student you realize in the first week that you have been tricked when:

  • None of your classmates is writing a case study at any prominent company
  • Nobody has been sent to any company by DALC or by Oborah
  • The students were also guaranteed internships that never materialised
  • You now need an appointment to see Humphrey Oborah
  • Fellow students tell you that you can just write the case from your head i.e imagine the whole thing
  • You hear that a tutor at DALC can write it for you at a fee
  • You see original copies of other students projects in your library

 

To this day, despite all of Oborah’s bragging about DALC being special, he has not unveiled any collaboration or agreement of sorts with local or foreign organizations. In spite of his chest thumps, years DALC has still not developed any formal linkages with any company of repute in the last 7 despite teaching 100+ courses. What do you make of this strange fact?

 

How can an institution that ridicules others on their old fashioned ways not have a partner in its quest for practical education? Has DALC ever held a recruitment fair where employers from different companies came over to recruit its highly trained students? Why is that link to the sector that DALC claims to train its student for missing? How impractical is it for an institution that claims to be spearheading practical education lack totally any partnerships with any company/organization?

 

The truth of the matter is that the practical education, case studies thing is rhetoric. You can get a credit without doing an ounce of research at DALC or going to any company. There are ways such as:

 

  • You can download a case study, modify it and submit it to your overworked lecturer who will mark it in a hurry to avoid trouble.

 

  • DALC has no way of verifying the content to see if it is plagiarized. Actually, DALC has plagiarized most of its syllabi from other institutions so plagiarism at DALC is not an issue really.

 

  • You can also hire your tutor to write it for you, ask the Westlands, Kisumu and Mombasa students.

 

  • Or you can borrow a friend’s case study, change the cover page and names of the companies and submit.

 

HUMPHREY Peter Oborah can spend millions on TV talking about saving africa’s education but the dirty facts of his “English Institution and Education” will come out. The practical thing makes you feel good if you really go into a company and research but the majority of the students realize that there is an easy way of coasting through a course without breaking a sweat.

 

 

P.S. You can also google through your practical education!

 

2 comments:

  • Excellent article once more.Truly spoke i am a graduate of DALC but I know that DALC is not what it potrays. In my class, the lecturers earned extra pennies by writing projects for my fellow students. Mst of the time they were soo broke, it was sympathetic and our head of missions obwora paid them past 10th. CAVEAt to all joining DALC. Seek another opinion.

    April 23, 2009 at 6:54 PM

  • DALC is a load of crap...I started there but never finished, it was just too fake...2 classes a week? Please! And half the time the lecturers were hitting on students... Was it a college or club?

    December 17, 2009 at 1:30 PM

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