Bishop Okullu College.
Bishop Okullu College is a Private College accredited by Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA).
Bishop Okullu College
Bishop Okullu College is an Anglican Institution of Higher learning that offers diploma and certificate courses across the board.
Mission: To build a strong, committed, and visionary leadership for Church and community-based programmes.
Vision: To create a practical approach to issues affecting the church and society thus making heaven on earth a reality.
Philosophy: Our society Is faced with social, moral, economic, and political crises which may be attributed to a shortage of dynamic, honest and morally endowed leadership in the public and private sectors. In view of this, the College aims at achieving transformation through promoting a culture of openness, responsibility, justice in our leadership systems, youth participation in the Church, and national development and equity that cuts across religious, racial, tribal, and gender lines.
Our History
Bishop Okullu College was founded in 1978 by the Community of Kokise in Asembo and was then supported by the Anglican Church Diocese of Maseno South. It was originally started as a community Village Polytechnic offering vocational courses in agriculture, carpentry, and joinery, masonry and tailoring. In 1984 the members of the community donated more land to the institution to accommodate ministerial training for pastors. In 2002, the college entered into a partnership with two institutions: the Tropical Institute for Community Health in Africa (TICH) and the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp Belgium to establish the Great Lakes University of Kisumu and Youth Intervention Centre respectively. The latter was directly managed by the Belgium organization in collaboration with CDC and KEMRI.
Justification
Since 2002 to date, the college has produced more than 50% of the total clergy serving in the western Anglican Dioceses of Kenya. The college has also graduated a student from Libya who is currently serving as a priest in Tunis Tunisia. The majority of these clergy obtained either Diploma or degree in theology while others had been registered for other related qualifications.
According to the recent survey, the region is likely going to face a deficit of trained ministers with degree education in ten years. As 25% of the current clergy are likely to retire from active service in five years time, there is also a dire need to address the deficit that is likely to be realized.
It is also the government policy to engage the services of church ministers as chaplains in schools. This responsibility has come with its challenges. The requirement that such chaplains must have their first degree and be able to teach as well as limited the church’s role since the majority of her ministers do not have college degrees.
The level of poverty in the region that had been declared one of the top five poorest regions in Kenya has virtually limited the capacity of many young people to pursue their further studies. The church too, has not had the capacity to prepare or train its ministers due to lack of funds. The irony is that many people are ordained to offset the deficit in the ministry even though they are not trained at all.
