TSC Rules Out Promotions Of Primary School Teachers To Secondary, Gives Conditions.
Under the new curriculum, the Teachers Service Commission has ruled out the promotion of primary school teachers to secondary schools.
According to the commission, teachers will only be certified to teach in secondary schools if they achieve a grade C+ (plus) in KCSE examinations.
TSC deputy director of staffing Antonina Lentoijoni stated that teachers who do not achieve a mean grade of C+ in KSCE will be barred from teaching in secondary schools, even if they later obtain degrees.
Lentoijoni spoke at the Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association’s annual conference in Mombasa.
She stated that all secondary school teachers would be limited to teaching subjects in which they received a C+ or higher in KSCE.
“They would only be permitted to teach subjects which they attained C+ or higher grade, this will go a long way to improve the quality of education,” she said.
Despite the criticism, Lentoijoni stated that while the high qualification requirements were unpopular with teachers, she believed they would improve education standards.
According to Lentoijoni, the commission raised the bar in order to improve education quality in response to new social and societal challenges.
“TSC has raised the entry point of teaching to have the right kind of people to offer quality education to our children,” she said.
Collins Oyuu, secretary-general of Knut, proposed that primary school teachers be allowed to teach Grades 7 and 8 in junior secondary schools because several of them have a master’s degree.
However, the new decision prohibits them from teaching secondary school because they received a KCSE grade of C-(minus) or C.
Lentoijoni, on the other hand, stated that any teacher wishing to teach in secondary schools must now have a C+ or higher grade.
Those who obtained their degrees through diploma certificates are left in a bind as a result of the decision.
Teachers with TSC-approved qualifications, according to Lentoijoni, are the right kind of people to ensure children receive a quality education.
She stated that the TSC has trained 28,000 teachers in the last few years to address tutor shortages.
The TSC official expressed gratitude to the government for its ongoing response to the country’s teacher shortage.
“There is some relief from the teacher’s shortage problem, We have embraced a new system of teacher recruitment by first engaging those who wanted to be teachers as interns who were then assigned to experienced teachers for mentorship. We will lobby for more money to recruit more teachers,” she said.
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The TSC has previously ignored pleas from arid Northeastern leaders who have repeatedly asked the commission to lower entry grades for those in the teacher-scarce region.
Former CS for Education Amina Mohamed attempted the same thing but was rejected by a Kenyan court on the grounds that the entry requirement is the responsibility of TSC.
TSC Rules Out Promotions Of Primary School Teachers To Secondary, Gives Conditions.