Teacher training colleges offering Diploma programmes want the Ministry of Education to raise university entry grade from C+ (plus) to a higher grade.
The colleges through the Kenya Teachers Colleges Principals’ Association, argue enrollment in the institutions have gone down after the ministry allowed students with C+ to get government sponsorship to universities.
The association’s chairman Saul Barasa said universities were keen on taking over already set up facilities, thus disadvantaging the colleges. He said the ministry should save the colleges from shutting down.
The Diploma Teacher Training Colleges enroll students with a minimum grade C+. However, the Ministry of Education announced that students with the same grade are eligible to join the universities for degree programmes.
Half capacity
Mr Barasa said government agencies, Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and the Kenya National Qualification Authority should meet with education stakeholders and harmonise grades for students joining teachers training colleges.
The principals also said they were struggling with below half the capacity of students they are supposed to absorb due to the impasse over the cut-off grade.
“These government agencies need to sit down and deliberate on harmonising the grades. Right now, we are taking students who completed Form Four from as early as 2007 – someone who had even forgotten many things. They are the ones being admitted because now, others are going to universities,” Barasa said.
“Quality must prevail and the government should be reasonable that the grade we take for these colleges is good. Even the children you teach look at the grade you scored, so we should not demean the teaching profession,” he added.
