TSC and MOE Accused Of Killing Teacher Training Colleges
The government of Kenya, in collaboration with the teachers’ service commission, have been accused of murdering Teacher-training colleges (TTCs). Experts say that the current collapsing state of TTCs verge of was an intentional creation of the government after it scrapped P1 and ECDE certificate programs for basic-education tutors. Additionally, the government further buried TTCs by revising the minimum entry grades for TTCs.
The double move has left more than 30 government TTCs and 37 private ones minus students, halting their operations.
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Currently, only five government TTCs have students, each having an average of 20, down from over 200 students that the colleges used to recruit annually before the entry grades were revised.
The last time students were seen in the remaining TTCs was December 2021 when the last cohort of the P1 certificate course graduated.
During the April and May 2021 recruitment, only 600 students met the new entry requirements set by the Education ministry and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Of the 600 students, 400 enroled for the new Diploma in Primary Education, while 200 were recruited to pursue the Early Childhood and Development Education (ECDE) diploma programme.
The Education ministry distributed the students in only five teacher colleges, leaving the other 30 TTCs without any teacher-trainee.
The five lucky colleges that got students are Thogoto TTC, Machakos TTC, Igoji TTC, Baringo TTC and Migori TTC.
Due to their inability to attract qualified students, private TTCs have resorted to other business courses to stay afloat.
There are 35 government teacher-training colleges and 37 privately owned ones across the country.
Nakuru Teachers Training College for instance, which commanded over 500 students for P1 annualy, only managed to get 5 students for DIPTE and 100 for DECTE. Nakuru TTC registrar, Dennis Bowen blamed the low enrolment on high cluster-subject qualifications prescribed by the Ministry of Education.
“We got many applications from students who scored a mean grade of C (plain), but when it came to cluster combination, a majority of them did not qualify,” said Mr Bowen.
Under the current grading system, however, the college, like many others, has had to diversify its courses.
Colleges affected by the policy change are targeting business, arts and technical courses.
The Education ministry scrapped the P1 certificate course and introduced Diploma of Primary Education for primary-level teachers and Early Childhood Development Teacher Education diploma programmes for Pre-primary 1 and Pre-primary 2 teachers.
The entry requirement for the Diploma of Primary Education and the ECDE programmes is Grade C (plain) in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination or its equivalent as certified by the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec).
Candidates for the two diploma courses are also required to have a C plain in all the cluster subjects – English and Kiswahili, Mathematics, any humanity and any science subject.
For candidates with disabilities, the minimum entry grade is C (minus), with a C (minus) in the cluster subjects.
