Uhuru summons top ministry, TSC officials

President Uhuru Kenyatta at a past event.

Top Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) officials have been summoned to State House over the stalemate on teachers entry requirement to training colleges.

Sunday Standard has established that the officials were called for a meeting yesterday as details emerged of fresh court battle between the teachers’ employer and the ministry. TSC moved to court a day after a meeting chaired by Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed flopped.

TSC wants the court to determine the correct interpretation of the law to establish who has the legal mandate to set entry requirement to the colleges.

The move by TSC came as conflicting reports emerged from Jogoo House where education stakeholders met to find a way forward for the new D grade entry requirement gazzeted by Amina.

Justice Bryam Ongaya of the Employment and Labour Relations court had last week ordered Amina to convene the meeting between TSC and the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) to harmonise regulations that have stalled admission of some 3,000 students.

The meeting saw teachers unions take opposing stands on the matter with Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) supporting the new grade and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (Kuppet) opposing the move.

Persons currently wishing to train as teachers are required to have a minimum Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) grade of C and post quality scores in the teaching subjects.

The ministry, through the newly established KNQA has set C– as the minimum diploma entry grade and D for certificate courses.

Standards review

Just a week after Kuppet dropped its bid to challenge the ministry directive, TSC has moved back to court claiming that Amina usurped powers on teachers training and recruitment. ??

TSC claims Amina’s role in education sector does not include dictating who should be a teacher. ??It also claims the law forming KNQA does not spell out among its functions the role of regulating teachers training. The case, filed by lawyer Oyucho Timon for TSC, reads that actions by both Amina and KNQA have caused confusion in the education sector. “The petitioner is the sole state organ that has the mandate to set and review standards of education for persons entering teachers’ service,” argued Oyucho.

TSC wants the court to halt new teachers training colleges admissions for all those with D, saying the move would cause losses and wastage if the case is ruled in its favor. ??

Knut has strongly supported the Ministry of Education’s move to lower the cut-off mark for those pursuing certificate in education (P1) to D+ and for Diploma to C-.

Knut proposed that to attract students from hardship zones (arid and semi-arid areas) take up teaching as a gainful career, the Ministry of Education and TSC lower the cut-off mark for those wishing to join TTCs to D+.

Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion, said this should be done to avoid situations whereby the government desperately engages unprofessional teachers to fill vacant teaching posts.

“Knut supports the Ministry of Education to lower the cut-off mark in joining the teacher training colleges to D+ for those pursuing Certificate in Education (P1) and C-  for those intending to take diploma in Education particularly from Arid and Semi Arid (ASAL) areas,” Sossion said.

Attorney General Kihara Kariuki had however issued a legal opinion contrary to Amina’s gazette notice.?

In his legal advice, Kihara said TSC, not the Education CS, was mandated to prescribe college entry qualifications. ??TSC was opposed to the admission of grade D students to teacher training colleges. If the employer has its way on this issue, multiple students will be at a loss as the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) will not allow them to sit exam.??

TSC warned that grade D teachers will not be registered after graduation as the entry grade should be C.

While dismissing TSC’s stand on minimum entry grade issue, KNQA said colleges were allowed to admit new students who got grade D in KCSE. KNQA further stated that TSC is just the teachers’ employer and cannot play the regulatory role.??

Some private teacher’s training colleges had already commenced the process of admitting students who attained grade D in KCSE.