Recognise executive diplomas, Teachers Service Commission told

By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

KENYA:  Primary school head teachers have pitched for quality education and also demanded a special scheme for all the P1 teachers who have completed their executive diploma courses.

Speaking yesterday, the school heads said most of them have undertaken professional courses at the Kenya Education Institute of Management (Kemi) and asked their employer to recognise their qualifications.

Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) National Chairman Joseph Karuga said over 23,000 teachers have graduated and noted that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) should elevate them to another scheme of service.

“These teachers should now be moved from the non-graduate scheme to the new scheme because they have completed their executive diplomas,” he said.

But TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni said the commission has not come up with a new scheme of service.

“We still have the three schemes that we have been operating under. We have the graduates, non-graduates and technical scheme. We do not have any other,” he said.

Some teachers who spoke to The Standard said the commission has been slow to recognise Kemi graduates because teachers’ ordinary diplomas take up to two-and-a-half years.

‘Added advantage’

“Our diploma takes over two years in college. But the Kemi courses are just a few months and on graduation, teachers want promotions,” said the head teacher from Nairobi County.

Lengoiboni has been on record saying that the papers from Kemi are an “added advantage” to teachers during promotion interviews.

Speaking on behalf of the over 10,000 teachers gathered in Mombasa, Karuga said TSC should recognise and promote teachers after the professional course.

The teachers also said they want to be recognised for their roles as primary school managers.

The Kenya National Parents and Teachers Association (KNPTA) also said primary school heads must be given responsibility allowances to effectively perform their duties.

“These heads do a lot of work in schools and with the laptops project coming up, they should be considered for responsibility allowances,” said Nathan Barasa of KNPTA.

The school managers also want TSC to speed up the on-going recruitment of teachers.

Kepsha and KNPTA said quality education would continue to be compromised if the existing teacher shortage is not addressed.