AMBITIOUS TARGET
Last year, the government moved 4,000 tutors in technical and vocational training institutions from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to the Public Service Commission due to its tough recruitment requirements.
Dr Desai cited TSC’s inability to recognise the qualifications of tutors who undergo training through the TVET training path in their career progression.
Dr Desai said that, for instance, a trainer with higher national diploma, who scored a C- at Form Four, could not be hired by TSC.
In the new plan, the government is targeting to have 110,000 students in 11 national polytechnics, 1.4 million in 280 technical and vocational colleges and 1.6 million in technical vocational centres.
According to the Commission for University Education (CUE), about 53 per cent of all lecturers in the 70 public and private universities have only a master’s qualification.
UNIVERSITIES
The Commission for University Education’s latest situation report covering 2015-2016 notes that the increase in the number of lecturers with master’s degrees is commensurate with the high enrolment of undergraduate students, who are mainly taught by master’s degree holders.
The report adds that the percentage of academic staff with PhD qualification is only 32 per cent.
If the government goes ahead to implement this policy, it means that 53 per cent of 9,000 lecturers, or 4,400, who have master’s degrees, will be kicked out of the lecture halls, leaving about 4,200 to teach close to 600,000 students in universities.
However, the Universities Academic Staff Union is challenging the policy in court on grounds that it was not consulted.
The union also argues that CUE breached the Constitution, which calls for public participation before implementation of the policy.
CUE chief executive Mwenda Ntarangwi says the plan to reform university teaching is on course, but they have to wait for the legal process to be concluded.
