Teacher Training Colleges will be under one institution, like the model of the Kenya Medical college(KMTC), if proposals by a taskforce on education reforms are approved.
The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) is proposing that the colleges operate under one college similar to KMTC.
This means that all the 34 teacher training colleges will be transformed into campuses of Kenya Teacher Training College.
Further, teacher training will be moved from the Basic Education department at the Ministry of Education to the Higher Education Department.
Part of the radical changes that will be effected include revising the admission criteria currently used for teacher training to allow more students access training.
All TTCs are currently under-enrolled since the government made changes in 2021 requiring students to have a minimum mean grade of C (plain) in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
The proposed changes will also do away with the subject clustering used to admit students to the diploma in primary teacher education.
Currently, students are required to have a C grade in all the cluster subjects and also the same in English, Kiswahili, mathematics, a humanity and science subject.
The combination has however proved to be a tall order for applicants.
There are currently, 3,922 students enrolled in TTCs against a capacity of 26,650.
The PWPER has also proposed affirmative action in admission of students from marginalised regions to TTCs.
Such students will be admitted on lower entry grades in an effort to enhance the numbers for the regions.
The affected regions are poorly staffed and unattractive to many teachers because of security issues.
Placement of students for both the KMTC and teacher training will be through the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service.
