EDUCATION NEWS THIS WEEK

EDUCATION NEWS THIS WEEK

NO MORE ADMISSIONS FOR P1 TEACHERS
The ministry of education will no longer select form four leavers to join teachers training colleges as from next year. The affected courses are Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) and P1. Dr. Belio Kipsang on behalf of the Ministry of Education broke the news yesterday. He further added that this directive is effective as from this month. The affected exercise is normally done in April every year.

NEW TEACHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM
Dr Kipsang also confirmed that the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) is in the process of developing a new teacher education curriculum frame-work that will adequately prepare teachers to meet the needs of their employer-TSC. This could be the reason behind the declaration by the ministry since it has already implemented the new Competency-Based Curriculum up to Grade three. The new curriculum kicked off this year despite severe criticism. Consequently, the new teacher education curriculum has to be reviewed to sharpen the teachers’ ICT skills. This will enable them to embrace and integrate ICT into the teaching and learning process.

ZERO ENROLMENT
Also, the teachers training colleges are expected to register zero enrolment next year. Teachers training colleges usually admit about 20,000 students per year while private colleges receive their share of 4,000.

DIPLOMA TEACHERS
However, admissions into three diploma teachers’ colleges shall continue as planned. Successful applicants are expected to report at the start of next year in January 2020. The selection will be done by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS).

KICD DISMISSES AND DISOWNS “VULGAR BOOK”
The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) through its official twitter handle disowned and discredited a storybook “Blood Ties” authored by Zimkhitha Mlanzeli from South Africa. This followed a public outcry about the “inappropriate” language used in one of its pages. This page recounts a scene involving a violent robbery incident which can be misinterpreted by young learners if read out of context. This vulgarity was brought to light when parents and other education stakeholders took to social media and expressed great disappointment about how a book with ”f-word” could be recommended for standard six pupils.

CIRCULAR
Following the uproar, the ministry of education sent a circular to all principals and heads warning them against using texts and curriculum support educational materials that are not approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. It further reiterated that KICD always vets all curriculum support materials before recommending them for use in schools.

THE ORANGE BOOK
KICD further insisted that a list of recommended books is available in the orange book. It is therefore strange how the storybook, which is not listed in the Orange Book, found its way to schools in Kenya. The Storymoja managing editor proved that although the book is published in Kenya by Storymoja Publishers, it is not among the recommended texts for use in Kenyan schools.

WITHDRAWAL
Following the public bashing, the text was served with; Textbook Centre has been obliged to cleanse its shelves. It withdrew all the copies of the text.