TSC to Retool JSS Teachers Next Month.
The Teacher Service Commission has announced measures to retrain teachers who will start teaching grade 7 learners in January.
The Director of Human Resource Management and Development at TSC, Julius Olayo, stated that the purpose of retooling the teachers is to guarantee that they meet required standards and efficiently carry out their job.
According to Olayo, the TSC has trained 229,000 primary school teachers and 60,000 secondary school teachers on the Competency-Based Curriculum.
“Additionally, all field officers and curriculum support officers have been trained on CBC to understand the curriculum and be able to give instructional support during the implementation of the curriculum,” Olayo said.
“However, this training will be continuous and all teachers must be supported and equipped with the necessary skills to effectively deliver CBC.”
Olayo addressed at the Sheik Zayed Children Welfare Center in Mombasa on the third day of the 18th Kenya Primary School Heads Association annual general meeting and conference on Wednesday morning.
He was representing TSC president and CEO Nancy Macharia.
According to him, the TSC has also deployed competent CBC training teachers in all teacher training colleges; hence, by the time the current trainees graduate, they will have acquired sufficient skills to implement the CBC.
He stated that under the remote learning initiative, the commission had trained 63,398 teachers on the use of various online platforms for teaching and learning, allowing them to access online content and remotely deliver courses.
The majority of teachers are still learning how to integrate ICT into the learning and teaching within the Competency-Based Curriculum, according to Olayo.
“Creativity is a wide concept which includes going beyond the curriculum and exploring learning approaches that can help develop the imagination, innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving of the learner while making them happy and willing to learn,” he said.
In January, approximately 1,287,597 Grade 6 pupils who took the inaugural Kenya Primary School Education Assessment last week will advance to Grade 7.
In its preliminary report, the Presidential Working Group on Education Reforms advocated the placement of Junior Secondary Schools within primary schools.
Principal Secretary of Basic Education Belio Kipsang stated on Tuesday that all pupils in Grades 1 through 9 will attend day schools beginning next year.
Kipsang stated that parents have the primary obligation as first educators to walk with their children and ensure they acquire the values they desire, adding that they cannot delegate this duty to teachers.
Olayo requested that the primary school principals, whom he described as the administrators and implementers of the association between parents and students, educate the parents on what CBC comprises and their duties in the new curriculum dispensation.
“The new curriculum is like a canoe that must be paddled by all stakeholders. Parents and guardians are the first educators of our learners,” he said.
“Unlike in the 8-4-4 system of education where parents provided requisite resources and sat back to wait for the troll from the teachers, the new curriculum is a joint venture that must involve the parent, the teacher, and the learner.”
He added that teachers and parents should collaborate to solve the issue of absenteeism, which he described as a significant indicator of low performance.
However, according to him, CBC has been built so that the majority of activities occur virtually simultaneously, making it impossible for absent students to catch up.
Nelson Oyuu, general secretary of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, urged the government to enhance capitation for primary schools now that they will be hosting JSS.
Oyuu asked for the establishment of an equalization fund for primary schools, arguing that since primary school principals will henceforth be responsible for Grades 7,8, and 9, they require a higher compensation package.
“I want to appeal to the primary government especially the presidential working party, the workload in primary schools was overstretching the head teachers, now that we have an additional grade 7, 8, and 9, can we consider the plight of these schools’ heads as they take care of the three grades in primary school,” Oyuu said.
The KNUT SG also stated that schools for students with exceptional needs should be considered for special capitation, as they are in critical need of it.
“I want to also ask TSC that all head teachers and their deputies that have been in acting capacity be promoted by January 2023, there is no other way about it,” Oyuu said.
Johnson Nzioka, national chairman of Kepsha, pleaded with the government to assign a larger proportion of the 30,000 new teachers to be hired in January to primary schools to assist Junior Secondary Schools.
“We are pleading with TSC now that JSS is domiciled in primary when you are employing the 30,000 new teachers, the elephant portion should be sent to primary schools to assist us,” Nzioka said.
TSC to Retool JSS Teachers Next Month.
