Teachers have been dealt a major blow in their quest to acquire degrees after the universities regulator moved to enforce a ban on studies during schools holidays. A detailed brief presented to Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed this week says the school-based programme stands abolished and calls for strict enforcement.
The Commission for University Education (CUE) should categorically communicate to all universities and the public that, based on the recommendation of the Quality Audit Inspection, the School/Institution–Based/Inter-Term Mode of Delivery was abolished with effect from February 17, 2017,” reads the report.
The report is among six documents presented to Amina by CUE officials this week. It contains recommendations of a Joint Working Group on Quality Assurance set up last year to draw corrective and preventive measures that must be implemented by institutions to correct the rot in higher education. The report revealed major academic shortcomings in universities. But the directive on school-based programme is what will shock the more than 340,000 teachers on government payroll.
It means institutions will restructure the programmes to adhere to the contact hour rule, as it emerged that they ignored the requirements set out in the guidelines and standards of universities. “The commission notes that the original school-based programmes lasted for eight years while the current programmes have been telescoped to cover two and a half years, thus compromising the quality of the degree awarded,” says CUE. In its proposal, CUE wants an immediate stop to the school-based programme and proposes that those currently enrolled in them graduate after eight years. “For programmes already in place, the commission recommends that they revert to the original eight-year duration so as to allow adequate delivery and internalisation of the material covered, with teaching period or practicum designed to 12 weeks,” reads the report
