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TSC: We won’t accept low grade teachers

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Teachers College Entry Grade: The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has warned that it will not register teachers who will join training colleges with lower grades as proposed by the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA).

“Should persons with lower qualifications opt to train as teachers, they face the danger of not being registered by the commission on account of non-compliance with the Commission’s standards,” said TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia in a letter dated September 25 to the authority’s Director General Juma Mukhwana.

The warning by TSC dashes the hopes of thousands of students who were keen to join the institutions.

To address the issue, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has invited TSC, KNQA and Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) for a crisis meeting on Thursday October 4, 2018 in Nairobi.

Mrs Macharia said lowering of the college entry grades will affect the quality of teachers in the country.

KNQA had indicated that students seeking to study for a diploma in education would have a C plain or C- in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam, down from the previous C+. Meanwhile, those seeking a certificate in education (popularly known as P1), needed to have a D+, down from a C plain.

“These changes will ensure the sustainability of teacher training in the country, which is under threat from reforms being undertaken in the technical vocational education training (TVET) sector,” Dr Mukhwana said early this month.

But TSC has hit out at the authority saying it has no mandate to decide the entry grade for those joining the teaching service, further warning that it will not recognise such teachers.

“The commission takes a serious view of the attempt by the authority to arrogate itself the powers to review the standards of education and training of persons entering the teaching service; and proposing to lower the minimum entry requirements. Lowering of minimum entry standards for teachers is a serious affront to national development and may be a recipe for failed future economy,” reads the letter.

She went on: “That a country’s development is anchored on the quality of education it offers to its youth cannot be overstated. For this reason, it is of great importance to put in place minimum qualification requirements for persons aspiring to train as teachers which serve as a filter to let in only the best to become teachers. This is the surest way to provide to the youth, the holders of our future, the opportunity to have the best teachers.”

Mrs Macharia said since 1998, the government changed its policy on employment of teachers from supply-driven to demand-driven in a bid to contain the runway national wage bill.

“As a result, currently there are more than 290,000 trained teachers who have not secured employment with the commission due to budgetary constraints and other factors. Some of the teachers in question trained as way as back as 2008. This huge number of unemployed trained teachers cannot be an indication of lack of interest in the profession. It clearly demonstrates that the country has surplus trained teachers,” she added.

Mrs. Macharia went on: “In respect, it is not clear why, despite lacking the locus to review the qualification for persons entering the teaching service, the authority has proposed lowering the same while currently the country’s economy is not able to absorb the already trained teachers with higher qualifications than those proposed by the authority.”

She said lowering of entry grades for teacher training is mainly advisable where there exists a sustained lack of interest in the profession like in Zimbabwe.

Mrs Macharia said as a regulator, the commission has the mandate to review the standards of education and training of people entering the teaching service and to advise the national government on matters relating to the teaching profession.

“From the foregoing, the commission takes the view that your proposal to lower the qualifications of persons to train as teachers has the potential of over flooding the job market with low grades persons trained as teachers,’ said the CEO.

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