Summary:
- TSC proposes scrapping of the Bachelor of Education from universities.
- TSC proposes new registration requirements and new course details.
- Commission wants universities to stop offering B.Ed. from September 2021
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) have protested the plan by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to scrap the Bachelor of Education Degree (BED).
Speaking to a local daily on Friday, May 28, 2021, KNUT Secretary-General (SG) Wilson Sossion said that the commission lacks the mandate to single-handedly make such a decision.
The ODM nominated Member of Parliament (MP) argued that the teachers’ employer should have involved stakeholders in the education sector.
“TSC should have involved KNUT, which is a teachers’ union. The demands by TSC are a violation of the terms and conditions of employment,” Sossion was quoted as saying.
KUPPET chairman Omboko Milemba argued that the high-quality standards set by TSC would lead to a deficit of teachers in the country soon. He said students who attain high grades would rather opt for other professions.
He called upon education stakeholders in the country to hold a meeting to discuss the proposals by the Teachers Service Commission. He noted that when qualification standards for teaching professionals were increased earlier, the number of students enrolling to pursue education decreased, killing Teachers Training Colleges (TTCs) in the country.
Milemba argued that TSC should maintain its role as an employer and refrain from regulating qualification standards for teachers.
“This framework proposes that a teacher will be required to have a C+ for sciences and B+ for all teaching subjects. That is the kind of candidate who will go for law, sciences, and other professions,” Milemba stated.
“This then requires that we have to move quickly in parliament and create a professional body for the teachers of Kenya,” he added. Milemba affirmed that KUPPET would reject the proposal, and will give a report within a week of reviewing the TSC framework.
TSC had recommended that education professionals pursue a Bachelor of Arts or Science degree followed by a 1-year post-graduate Diploma in Education as part of the plan to introduce the Competent Based Curriculum (CBC) to Kenyan universities.
The proposal was outlined by the TSC Director of Quality and Standards (QAS) Dr. Reuben Nthamburi. In the new curriculum, students wishing to pursue a teaching career will have to attain a minimum grade of C+ and a minimum of B- in three teaching subjects.
“To professionalize the teaching service and improve the quality of education, the commission needs to review the entry-level grades to the teaching service and advice the government. This will raise the standards of the teaching profession and attract more quality grades,” the report read in part.
The report pronounces that students with qualifications in subjects not in the new curriculum will not qualify for registration and employment by TSC even if they have a post-graduate diploma.
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