TSC Teachers’ TPD Training Suspended as MPs Trash teachers’ 30-year training programme, Call for its halting, Terming it Illegal and Uncalled for
TSC News Today: Speaking in Parliament, National Assembly Education and Research Committee chairperson Florence Mutua says implementing TPD would infringe on teachers’ rights.
Facts about TSC TPD Training
Training was to be offered by four institutions, all based in Nairobi, to the disadvantage of other regions.
The Teachers Service Commission has also been accused of initiating the TPD without involving teachers themselves.
TSC Suffers a Crashing Blow after Details of Deliberations on the TSC TPD Teacher Training Modules in Parliament Emerge.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has suffered a huge blow after lawmakers recommended the suspension of the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) training.
The commission also risks losing its power as a regulator and employer after the MPs asked Parliament to pass an amendments to the TSC Act,2012 and Article 237 of the Constitution.
In the report tabled by Parliamentary Education and Research Committee chairperson Florence Mutua on Thursday evening, the lawmakers said teachers were not involved and consulted in coming up with the plan.
“TSC should conduct extensive public participation as required under Article 232(1)(d) of the Constitution and take into account the views of teachers, trade unions and other stakeholders with a view of building consensus,” the report says.
The Busia Woman Representative said the sourcing of the institutions to offer the programme should be broadened to ensure even distribution of the centres across the counties.
Being a scheme initiated by the employer, it should be paid for by the government and not teachers, the report adds.
The MPs say the subsequent rollout of TPD and making it compulsory was despite the fact that teachers are directly affected.
The commission rolled out the programme on September 22, 2021.
According to the TSC, teachers are to undertake TPD six modules, each taking five years. If implemented, a teacher will take 30 years to complete the whole training.
TSC also requires tutors to renew their teaching licences every five years, after completion of a TPD module.
The commission signed a contract with four institutions of higher learning to offer the training during school holidays.
They include Mt Kenya, Kenyatta and Riara universities. The other is the Kenya Education Management Institute.
According to the commission, teachers are required to pay Sh6, 000 every year for the training sessions, assessment, reporting and other associated costs.
To complete one module, a teacher will need to pay Sh30,000 in the five years and Sh180,000 for the three decade six modules.
“The commission has not made public to the teachers and education stakeholders the method used in arriving at the exorbitant cost,” the report says.
Ms Mutua said, the commission selected only four institutions, all based in Nairobi to run the programme “in unclear circumstances and notwithstanding the existence of reputable public universities elsewhere”.
Implementing TPD Training
“The TPD ought to have been integrated in the ongoing capacity strengthening programmes for teachers on the Competency Based Curriculum so as to avoid duplication of government efforts and waste of public resources,” the lawmaker said.
The report says if the TSC is not restrained from implementing TPD, the rights of teachers and other stakeholders could be trampled on.
The MPs were responding to a petition filed by tutors and presented by Kenya union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) chairman Omboko Milemba.
The petition was also signed by three Kuppet Nairobi Branch officials – Moses Mbora, Francis Yivo and Justus Nyakundi.
Mr Milemba asked the National Assembly to restrain the commission from rolling out the programme as currently designed until the concerns raised by teachers are addressed.
The teachers also want the Ministry of Education to implement the programme in line with international labour practices that obligate an employer who comes up with compulsory training to shoulder the attendant costs.
They also urged Parliament to ask the commission to put in place a legislation and policy framework to provide for the establishment of a professional regulatory agency for teachers so as to avoid conflict of interest, accusing the TSC of acting as the employer and regulator at the same time.
“The requirement that employees pay for the programme has caused uncertainty, given that most teachers’ salary is committed to the limit. Teachers failed to get a monetary collective bargaining agreement, owing to the fact that Covid-19 has affected Kenya’s economy,” Mr Milemba, who is also the Emuhaya MP, said.
He added that the distribution of service providers leaves teachers in northern Kenya, the Coast, Nyanza and Western Kenya disadvantaged.
Appearing before Parliament, TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia claimed to have involved unions in coming up with the programme.
She added that TPD is anchored on career progressive guidelines.
Mrs Macharia requested the National Assembly to consider setting aside Sh4.5 billion for the training.
There are 750,446 registered teachers in Kenya.
Some 341,760 are under the TSC, 170,000 in private institutions while 238,686 are jobless
Source: Daily Nation
