Yesterday the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) launched stakeholders forum for the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programme for teachers.
TSC sought feedback from stakeholders on how it can improve on the programme which doesn’t seem to augur well with teachers.
Among the challenges TSC is faced with is how the programme can be funded after only a few teachers registered with the four accredited service providers.
Last week the Basic Education Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Dr. Sarah Ruto, revealed that only 20,000 teachers have applied for TPD programme.
Speaking in Chemundu in Nandi on Thursday, Ruto said unskilled teachers are a threat to implementation of the new curriculum.
She urged teachers to source funding from County bursaries and Constituency CDF for their training.
“For now, we are urging teachers to exploit the existing funding from NG-CDF and county education bursaries. We know one of the critical challenges is lack of school fees, and we are asking them to just make efforts to acquire training for the betterment of our young generation,” said Ruto.
Ruto only after getting trained will it be possible for Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) to be rolled out smoothly in 2023.
“Teachers are instrumental to the implementation of CBC, and the Ministry of Education’s emphasis for the teachers to go for advanced training is to fasten the roll-out of the programme by 2023,” stated Dr Ruto.
TSC received a raft of proposals on how it can make TPD embraced by teachers without feeling the financial burden.
Stakeholders present issued their proposals and feedback on the TPD programme planned to start this December.
The event which happened at CEMASTEA grounds in Karen was also attended by teachers unions Knut (Kenya National Union of Teachers) and Kewota (Kenya Women Teachers Association) among others.
Knut secretary general Collins Oyuu reiterated his support for the programme but asked the teachers employer to improve teachers salaries for smooth implementation of the programme.
He said teachers should not be compared to other professionals like doctors and lawyers because such comparisons seem to belittle the teacher.
Kewota Chairperson, Dorothy Muthoni, urged TSC to be more seductive in communicating new polities such as TPD.
She challenged stakeholders to help crafting ways of sourcing for funds required to undertake the programme.
However among the proposals issued included slashing the annual leave allowance for teachers to pay for the TPD training to reduce the pinch of paying from their monthly salaries.
LEAVE ALLOWANCE PAYABLE TO TEACHERS FROM JULY 2021
| Grade | TSC Scale | Amount |
| B5 | 5 | 4,000 |
| C1 | 6 | 4,000 |
| C2 | 7 | 6,000 |
| C3 | 8 | 6,000 |
| C4 | 9 | 6,000 |
| cs | 10 | 6,000 |
| D1 | 11 | 10,000 |
| D2 | 12 | 10,000 |
| D3 | 13 | 10,000 |
| D4 | 14 | 10,000 |
| D5 | 15 | 10,000 |
Teachers earn leave allowance every February at a rate based on their job group.
Should the proposal be adopted teachers in lowest job group will lose sh. 4,000 which is paid annually as leave allowance.
However some TPD service providers says they will spread the sh. 6,000 TPD fee for teachers to make payment easier.
KEMI which is one of the institutions charged with training the teachers says it accepts enrolment for the programme with sh. 500 per month.
The service providers also say the introductory module which starts this December will be purely online to give them time to make face-to-face training more locally available for teachers.
TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia asked teachers to embrace the programme which is geared towards helping both teachers and learners.
“I beseech our teachers to embrace the TPD programme as it is certainly going to be a gamechanger. We will engage in robust communication and awareness campaigns to ensure that this programme is well understood and ends up benefiting the teacher in line with its objectives,” she said during the launch at CEMSTEA in Nairobi.
There are six TPD modules each teacher will have to undertake during their career and each will take five years to complete.
Macharia said all teachers in public and private schools would be required to undertake the mandatory TPD courses during the school holidays at their own cost.
“At the end of each module, successful teachers will have their teaching certificates renewed after every five years,” said Macharia.
This means that those who will not have taken the refresher courses will not be granted teaching licence and may not be authorised to teach.
Macharia said the refresher courses will boost the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) roll out as teachers will be equipped with requisite skills.