Colleges to get trainee tutors with grade of D+

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed with Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang when they appeared before the National Assembly recently. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

New affirmative action rules have relaxed admission requirements into teacher training colleges (TTC) for candidates from 17 counties.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed directed that students seeking to join TTCs for a certificate course will need to have scored a D+ in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.

Those pursuing a diploma in education will require a C- grade in KCSE, according to a letter dated October 15 that Ms Mohamed sent to John Muraguri, the CEO of the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS).

“In the spirit of the provisions of the law and following the Kenya National Qualification Framework Regulations, the entry point to primary and diploma TTCs is hereby lowered from the date of letter until otherwise advised,” said Amina, adding that primary TTCs would only admit candidates with a mean grade of D+ in 2018.

She added: “The mean score will be revised to C- from 2019 when the colleges start offering diploma in primary education. Diploma TTCs will admit from the affected counties with a mean score of C-, with C- and above in two teaching subjects.”

According to the letter, candidates from Turkana, Samburu, Wajir, Marsabit, Isiolo, Mandera, Garissa, Lamu, Tana River and West Pokot counties will benefit.

Others are Homa Bay (Suba and Mbita sub-counties only), Narok (Narok South, North, West and East sub-counties), Baringo (Baringo North, Marigat, Tiaty East and East Pokot sub-counties), and Kajiado (Mashuru, Loitoktok, Kajiado West and Kajiado East sub-counties).

Nomadic communities

Amina said these 14 counties had been identified as areas occupied by nomadic communities in the Policy Framework for Nomadic Education in Kenya (2009).

“The counties of Kwale, Kilifi and Taita Taveta, which have been identified as marginalised in the 2011 Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA) policy, will also benefit from the affirmative action of placing teachers in our TTCs,” Amina added.

The CS directed that only candidates who sat their KCSE examinations from 2006 would be eligible.

“Kindly ensure that the students from the affected counties who have shown interest in training as teachers and who meet the new criteria are admitted to TTCs from this year. Please bring the contents of this letter to the attention of all principals of TTCs.”

Amina said the Constitution empowered the State to put in place affirmative action programmes designed to ensure that minorities and other marginalised groups were provided with special educational and economic opportunities.

She revealed that all indicators of learners’ school participation - including access, enrolment, retention, completion and transition - in the 17 counties were way below the national average.

Free education

“Fifteen years after the introduction of free primary education, the Net Enrolment Rate (NER) in Mandera is 22.6 per cent, Wajir (25.9 per cent), Marsabit (63.7 per cent) and Tana River (63.8 per cent) while the national average is 84.6 per cent,” said Amina.

The CS said the situation was worse at secondary school level. “While the NER at national level is 47.5 per cent, Turkana’s NER is 8.6 per cent, Mandera (7.2 per cent), Marsabit (12.7 per cent) and Samburu is at 15.7 per cent.”

According to the 2009 census, Amina said, female literacy levels were below 10 per cent in Mandera, Turkana and Wajir but as high as 90 per cent in Uasin Gishu and Nairobi.

She said one of the major barriers in the delivery of quality education to the nomadic communities was the acute shortage of trained teachers from the local communities, adding that since 2013, more than 3,000 teachers had fled from Mandera, Wajir and Garissa, leading to disruption of learning in all schools in the counties.

“The mobility of nomadic communities, hardships associated with Asals, and shortage of teachers with a nomadic background makes recruitment, deployment and retention of teachers in these areas very difficult,” Amina said.

The Cabinet secretary added that heightened insecurity in the counties had further exacerbated the situation.