Machogu Addresses Change in Teacher Training Entry Requirements
Mr. Ezekiel Machogu, Cabinet Secretary for Education, stated that tying entry-level qualifications for Teacher Training to a Mean Grade of C Plain on the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) does not undermine the standards of teachers required to teach the primary education curriculum.
Mr. Machogu stated that the entry requirements requiring students to earn a grade C in all subject clusters in addition to a C average in the KCSE were restrictive and punitive.
On Tuesday of this week, the Cabinet Secretary made these remarks at the opening of Mandera Training College.
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Governor Mohamed Khalif of Mandera, Senator Ali Roba of Mandera, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya (NACONEK), and Mr. Haroun Yusuf were present.
Applicants to TTCs must have a mean grade of C Plain and a C Plain in Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Humanities, and Sciences, per the clustered requirements.
Mr. Machogu said the government is going to enforce a recommendation by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) to the effect that recruitment into TTCs be fixed at C Plain without the clusters criterion.
Mr. Machogu stated that the elimination of cluster requirements does not indicate a reduction in the quality of teacher education and training.
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He stated that some primary school teachers in the 1970s and 1980s did not have the equivalent of a C Plain secondary school certification, but were nevertheless ‘excellent’ teachers.
He stated that the elimination of cluster requirements led to a significant increase in enrollment in TTCs, whereas cluster requirements led to a precipitous decline in enrollment.
The CS, for instance, stated that Mandera TTC had attracted only 23 students under the cluster requirements but had enrolled 668 students after the cluster requirement was eliminated.
The 33 public Teacher Training Colleges enrolled approximately 3,322 students prior to the elimination of the cluster requirement but have since enrolled 18,670 students.
At the same time, the Cabinet Secretary announced that the government had devised measures to prevent early exposure to the upcoming KCPE and KCSE examinations.
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He announced that they will collect examinations from containers twice a day, instead of once a day as done in the past.
He stated that center administrators will schedule the second paper for the afternoon to prevent students from being exposed to it too early.
Machogu Addresses Change in Teacher Training Entry Requirements
