Showdown looms as colleges start admitting students with ‘D’ grade

Teachers Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia 

A major showdown is emerging in the teaching sector after colleges started admitting and training grade D students.

The Ministry of Education and the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) support the low grade admission as the teachers’ employer protested the move.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) CEO Nancy Macharia has said the employer will not recognise teachers who enrolled for teaching with low grades.

“The upshot is that should persons with lower qualifications opt to train as teachers, they face the danger of not being registered by TSC on account of non-compliance with the set standards,” Mrs Macharia said.

And yesterday, Bonaventure Kerre, the KNQA chairman, said quality of a teacher depends on many factors among them proper training.

He said teacher training must move from mere transmitter of knowledge, controller of learning, expert, single media application and promoter of expository learning.

Prof Kerre said the new teacher must now be trained to be a facilitator of learning, creator of conducive learning environment, co-learner and collaborator, user of multi-media and promoter of experiential learning.

“It is, therefore, necessary that their curriculum be competency-based and that in their training, they are appropriately inducted and experienced in the use and application of high order thinking skills,” Kerre said.

The statement released yesterday seems to support the ongoing admissions by private teacher training colleges.

Certificate courses

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed gazetted the KNQA standards that set C– (minus) as the minimum diploma entry grade and D (plain) for certificate courses.

Sunday Standard has established that private Teachers Training Colleges (TTC) and some public institutions are already taking in students based on the new entry requirements.

The move is likely to set graduate teachers against TSC as the employer already said it will not recognise them.

Sources revealed that some private colleges have already seized the opportunity to take in more students as it emerged that admission numbers had been dwindling.

“In some colleges, there are more trainers than students. For instance one college has 67 trainers against 167 students and this is because there were insufficient numbers to admit,” said one of the principals.

The chairperson of public teachers training institutions, Soul Barasa, however, said the 31 public TTCs are still waiting for a circular from the ministry.

“If they cannot give us a circular, we cannot admit. If TSC rejects those we train who will employ them? We expect KNQA, TSC and the ministry to agree and send us a circular,” Mr Barasa said.

Principals of the colleges who spoke to the Sunday Standard said the failed meeting last week meant that the institutions had no option but to admit students.

“The meeting that was to be chaired by the Cabinet secretary was postponed but we had to admit students and we are now basing the process in law,” said a principal of a college in central Kenya.

The admission talk remains a hot topic only discussed in hushed tones as KNQA maintains the new standards are legal and colleges are in dilemma over the fate of their institutions’ sustainability.

“If we do not admit these students we shall close down,” the principal said.

This means that persons seeking to enroll for teaching only need to score grade D, a move that has been rejected by TSC.

Currently, the minimum teachers certificate training entry grade is C and a C+ for diploma.

The hard stance by TSC means that teachers who will graduate from these colleges will not be registered and allowed to teach in Kenyan schools.

The teachers’ employer must register all teachers seeking to practice in both public and private schools locally.

Speaking in Parliament this week, Amina supported the new entry standards, saying some regions have been affected by the raised entry grade.

A meeting chaired by Amina last week at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) questioned TSC’s role in setting standards for teaching.