BY MWANAHABARI REPORTER
Teachers in the public schools are left scratching their heads after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) came up with yet another demand.
In a statement released on Wednesday, September 22, the teacher’s employer announced that it would require all its teachers working in public schools to undergo re-training every five years.
A total of 340,000 teachers will undergo trainings on the new modules soon to be introduced.
Those set to undergo the training will have to pay Ksh6,000 per module – with the modules said to be 6 in total. The whole training will take one month. That means that every teacher will part with Ksh36,000 every five years.
Institutions picked to offer training
This would translate to over 12 billion shillings every year.
Macharia noted that four institutions have been picked to offer the modules.
According to TSC boss Nancy Macharia, the training will be offered by Riara University, Mount Kenya University (MKU), Kenyatta University and Kenya Education of Management Institute.
“The move will see teachers put up to date with their profession. In addition, they will also work like other professionals including engineers and lawyers,” said Macharia.
Meanwhile, unemployed teachers who had applied to undergo retraining back in July have started receiving placement letters.
Invited to apply
The Ministry of Education on July 28, 2021, published an advertisement in the local dailies inviting applications from unemployed teachers looking to upgrade.
The advertisement read: “All applicants who wish to be considered for admission into the Teachers Training Colleges for upgrading from Certificate (ECDE) and Primary Teachers Education (PTE) to Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education (DECTE) and Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) respectively are invited to apply.
“This is an upgrading program for the trained teachers in the above category who are not in service. The school based upgrading program to benefit teachers who are in service will be available once the school calendar normalizes,” read the advertisement.
Many unemployed teachers have expressed their disaffection with the employer for disrupting their lives by asking them to go back to school.
Some of the teachers have ongoing jobs in private schools – and have families; children who are in school. The placement means that many will have to drop out of employment to go to school. What next after the training? Many are asking.