TSC Sets New Qualifications for P1 Teachers Without Minimum Qualification of Diploma Face Dismissal From Public Schools Employment
P1 primary teachers without a minimum qualification if diploma face dismissal from the public schools employment unless they take upgrade courses.
According to sources, TSC could soon even bar unemployed teachers with certificate qualifications from applying for jobs in public schools unless they have at least a Diploma.
According to TSC findings, newly hired teachers who have not been educated on CBC find it difficult to teach the new curriculum cohort. Teachers who take the upgrading are also likely to have a better chance of getting hired at TSC than those who do not.
Teachers in public schools who teach CBC classes currently hold a certificate and are retrained on a regular basis during their vacations to stay CBC compliant.
According to Nthamburi, the upgrade program training is not the same as the controversial Teacher Professional Development program that was recently implemented.
He clarified that the training differs from TPD in that it is designed to assist unemployed teachers in meeting CBC’s teaching criteria. They will allow teachers to go to the level of Diploma in Primary Teacher Education, putting them on par with DPTE graduates.
‘We want to eliminate inequity.’ As teachers complete the upgrade program, they will be at the diploma level, bringing their compensation in line with that of diploma holders, according to Nthamburi.
In public teacher training institutions, the improvement program will cost between Sh65,000 and Sh68,000, while private colleges would charge between Sh79,000 and Sh84,000.
The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development was in charge of developing the upgrade program’s curriculum design.
Because the teachers have already learned essential teaching pedagogies, the upgrade will simply focus on providing them with CBC skills.
The improvement will be available at Machakos TTC, Thogoto TTC in Kiambu, Shanzu TTC in Mombasa, Egoji TTC in Meru, Baringo TTC, and Migori TTC.
Collins Oyuu, secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, said on Friday that allowing P1 teachers to graduate to diploma will alleviate the college’s problem of being closed due to a shortage of students.
Oyuu also encouraged the government to partially fund the teacher upgrading program, noting that some of the teachers have been in the profession for a long time and have families, while others earn low incomes and cannot afford to upgrade.
“Because many are working in limited jobs and salaries in certain private and public schools, they would not be able to cover the training costs.”
“We want the government to provide them with some financial assistance and to enroll them in the Higher Education Loans Board program,” Oyuu said.
Primary teacher training was put on hold for nearly two years by the government in order to phase out P1 certificate courses in Teacher Training Colleges and allow for the development of a curriculum for the new diploma programme.
The initiative was made to replace P1 with diploma courses in order to ensure that teachers are properly equipped to meet the needs of the CBC.
Pre-Service Competency Based Teacher Education, according to the CBC taskforce, will provide the education sector with a valuable opportunity to train teachers on the CBC methodology.
