Mammoth crowds were witnessed at Sheikh Zayed Children’s Welfare Centre in Mombasa yesterday and part of today as school heads were scrambling for the ‘few chances’ of getting registered with the teacher professional development (TPD) training institutes present at the conference.

This occurred after the speech by the TSC Director for Quality Assurance and Standards Dr. Reuben Ntamburi and the continuous TSC/ KESSHA organised guidance and consultation sessions at the grounds.

 TSC directors present at the conference said that all teachers must be under the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) training as a statutory requirement.

According to the Director for Quality Assurance and Standards Reuben Ntamburi, TPD is a requirement under the law and no teacher will escape it. He also said teachers will continue to pay for the programme until parliament allocates funds.

“TPD is required under the law. The elephant in the room is the Sh6,000 for training. We are making efforts to convince parliament to allocate funds for it,” he said.

Dr Ntamburi said TSC has picked four universities to undertake the training of teachers on TPD, online. This will happen over five days from May 9.

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According to a witness present at the conference, deliberations by the TSC staff could have led to this turn of events. The witness, who sought anonymity, revealed that KEMI, MKU and Kenyatta University all erected tents at the grounds from Sunday to receive and register the heads for TPD Training, in a move that seemed somehow orchestrated prior to the event. Sources revealed also that KEMI registered the highest number of heads for TPD since it’s tent had not only the longest, but also the thickest queue.

“Principals are registering for the illegal TPD in mass. Don’t be deceived that TPD stopped and that no lessons are going on. These people have betrayed teachers a great deal,” revealed a witness.

Though very contentious, issues dealing with the  teacher professional development (TPD) , which visible shocked the school heads, were brought again at the conference.

The heads were shocked that even after the national assembly order to TSC to stop TPD until it meets certain conditions, the latter still has intentions of forcing teachers to pursue TPD and pay for the training before fulfilling any condition.

The teacher professional development training which started this week has not been doing well, with majority of teachers who enrolled caught denied access to the training links despite paying for the programme.

Mount Kenya University started the online training on December 27 while Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) started theirs on December 28.

Arguing from the post training reactions of the few teachers who attended the training, the training has somehow been rough with some teachers who paid for the training but have been struggling to get the links that would direct them to the training site.

“Am so frustrated. Cannot login I feel like quitting MKU I have tried to reset password with no response via email. Sms says reset successfully yet can’t login,” recounts one of the teachers who enrolled.

Rejoining the class after accidentally quitting has also not been a ride, with the system demanding for a reset of their passwords.

“Hello, anyone who got the link to TPD class to share please,”

“Share the link for login in. I have same login problem on my side,”

“I am not getting on the track. Help.”

“This is a Very frustrating programme. I am unable to reset password to rejoin class,” complained another teacher. These sentiments have been echoed by another teachers, who describes the entire process as frustrations in the chat section of one of the zoom lessons. “Frustrations tupu,” quipped the teacher through a chat.

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“Is the TPD training on? and if it is so, where is the link?” asked another teacher in a Whatsapp group created by one of the contracted institutions.

“What will I do to recover yesterday’s lessons woye,” cried another teacher who had struggled the previous day to access the training but failed.

The trainees have also complained of redundancy, arguing that the lessons could not take off from the introduction and that the trainers kept revolving around the introduction.

“Has anyone received any other lesson apart from the introduction these guys have been repeating since morning? I feel MKU is taking us for a ride,” complained a deputy principal in another WhatsApp group.

“I paid Kenyatta university sh. 3,000 but now I don’t know where to start. No link and no communication. am confused,” complained another teacher.

Some teachers have protested the move by Mount Kenya which initially allowed sh. 1,000 for registration and the rest payable in installments for twelve months.

The registration fee has since been revised upward. Teachers now pay sh. 2,000 as registration fee.

However, Riara university allows teachers to pay sh. 500 for registration and the rest spread for twelve months.

The teachers service commission, TSC, has maintained that upon successful completion of every module, teachers will be given TPD points, transcripts and a level certificate.

Based on the total number of modules, teachers will earn a maximum of 60 TPD points at the end of each module. Teachers will also earn 40 TPD points based on professional learning captured under TPAD like CEMASTEA INSETS and others.

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According to TSC, the accumulated TPD points will be used to Renew Teaching Certificate of successful participants every 5 years that the accredited Service Providers will deliver TPD through:

Physical Face to Face learning

These will occur through workshops at Sub County level. The workshops will take 5 days during one school holiday in a year.

Online webinar

During the other two school holidays in a year, professional learning will be through an online platform for 5 days. Currently only four institutions have been accredited to offer TPD training. These are Mount Kenya University, Kenyatta University, Riara University and Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI).

TPD service providers must be recognized and registered with the Commission to offer services which must address the 7 KePTS

The Commission will’ accredited various categories of TPD service providers as follows:

Category 1: Government institutions mandated to capacity teachers e.g CEMASTEA, KICD KISE, KNEC: Their TPD learning outcomes must be aligned to at least one of the seven KePTS

Category 2: Non State actors who are in partnership with the Commission e.g Edu Trust,UNICEF.

Category 3: Organizations selected through competitive tendering system. Will use the Commission’s prescribed modules with all the seven standards

Category 3 TPD Service providers will charge a fee for the services they will offer. Currently, teachers will be charged KSH 6000 per year payable directly to the TPD service provider.

More category 3 service providers will be selected competitively through a procurement process in 2023.

The Commission shall undertake continuous monitoring and evaluation of TPD programme to quality assure, offer professional support and give feedback on the training programmes.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC)Chief Executive Officer, Nancy Macharia, has issued the date when teachers will start their Teacher Professional Development (TPD) program.

Macharia said the training will start in five days’ time as she warned teachers who have not registered for the program.

She was talking in during a press briefing where she maintained that teachers who will attend the training will be issued with teaching certificates (licence) that will authorize them to teach.

However, those who will fail to attend the training, she said, will be dealt with according to the TSC Code of Regulations for Teachers (CORT).

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“A teacher who fails to undertake a prescribed TPD or take a teaching certificate shall be dealt with according to the code of regulations for teachers,” said Macharia.

According to Macharia, the training is aimed to enhance previous teachers training and asked both public and private school teachers to register for the training. She said the training will be purely online.

Her sentiments come few days after the official TPD training centres for teachers were released.

The teacher training programme is scheduled to start next week Monday 13th December 2021 and will be purely online (virtual).

TSC picked four institutions to offer teacher training. These are Mount Kenya University,Riara University, Kenyatta University and Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI).

The training which takes 30 years will cost a teacher sh. 6,000 yearly. However, most TPD Service Providers have spread the fee for a period of 12 months to ease payment for teachers.

During the December training teachers will be introduced to the first module, Introductory

module.

This program will introduce teachers to Teacher Professional Development and to the Seven Kenya Professional Teaching Standards (KePIS).

The introductory module has five chapters, which are expected to be completed within one year.

The content of each chapter is based on current knowledge and research applicable to the practical needs of a Kenyan classroom teacher.

After the introductory module, the teachers and the instructing leaders will then proceed to the level one module.

There will be two different modules: One for the Teachers and the one for Instructional Leaders.

Level One module will have 5 chapters. A teacher or an instructional leader will take one chapter per year for a period of 5 years but to a maximum of 7 years. Level two to Level six modules will each take 5 years.

Despite some teachers opposing the programme, the Commission has vowed to proceed with its plans to train its teachers.

“It is the question of what do we want best for our teachers, the future of a teacher in the country. the 21st century teacher. We would like to get a professionalized teacher, and that one we are not relenting on it,” said TSC Director of Quality Assurance and Standards, Dr. Reuben Nthamburi.