TSC degree shock for new teachers

Trainee teachers have to take an extra year at university to satisfy new requirements imposed by the Teachers Service Commission.

The TSC, the main employer of teachers, has told universities that they are teaching trainees irrelevant courses, causing a shortage of tutors in some subjects.

It has sent universities new conditions which they must meet for their graduates to get jobs.

Shortage of teachers

As a result, Fourth Year students in some universities are staying on for a fifth year in order to meet the new rules.

TSC boss Gabriel Lengoiboni said the courses now taught at university are to blame for a shortage of teachers in arts subjects.

From now on, the commission will hire graduates on the basis of the skills it needs, rather than the mere availability of jobless graduates.

“In order to utilise the available teacher numbers optimally and achieve equitable distribution, the commission reviewed its teacher recruitment policy from supply driven to demand driven. We also require that teachers seeking employment should have a minimum of two teaching subjects relevant to the current curriculum,” he said a in a circular to all public and private universities.

The move will lead to restructuring of departments in universities that train teachers to avoid missing out on employment opportunities by the government for their graduates.

And, in order to properly prepare trainees for a career in teaching, universities have been told to work closely with the TSC and the Ministries of Education and Higher Education.

To be employed, all graduates must have trained in at least two teaching subjects now in the secondary curriculum.

And Mr Lengoiboni had bad news for thousands of degree holders in Sociology, Agriculture, Forestry, Theology, Anthropology, Animal Husbandry, Meteorology and Natural Resources and others who either have obtained or were taking a post-graduate diploma (PGDE) in teaching in the hope of getting a job with the TSC: they will no longer be employed as teachers.

“They are not eligible for recruitment as teachers, irrespective of their having done post-graduate diploma in Education, since these fields are not relevant to the curriculum,” he said.

PGDE students, he said, should be admitted and trained only on the basis of the subjects they studied during their undergraduate degrees.

Mr Lengoiboni said the recent recruitment of teachers revealed a serious shortage in subjects now being avoided more by students and urged universities to step in. Subjects which have a shortfall are History, Christian Religious Education, Geography, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Studies.

“English language should be integrated with literature in English and be taken as two teaching subjects,” he explained.

He advised universities to guide students to take courses which are required in the job market. Last year, the TSC hired 14,000 teachers.

A check by the Nation revealed that universities had moved to comply with the new requirements.

At Kenyatta University, the college whose core business is to produce teachers, hundreds of students will now be forced to take five years pursuing an extra subject.

The university has introduced an ‘Enhancement Programme’ where students of Botany and Zoology are taking an extra eight units.

Special education is the worst affected, according to our spot check, with students required to take 16 units above the normal load.

At the Catholic University, the vice-chancellor, Prof John Maviiri said: “We are striving to make sure that we do not create any challenges for the students pursuing the degree,” adding, the 300 education students have the right combinations.

“A lot of them would like to be employed by the government at the end of their course and we have to comply with the notice,” he said.

Coming at a time when nearly 17,000 students are to be admitted to the public universities, dons will be faced with the uphill task of advising the would-be-teachers on the right career choices. Some 84,000 students had qualified to join universities but most have been locked out.

“Students seeking admission to universities should be advised appropriately in line with the market demands,” said Mr Lengoiboni who also noted that teachers needed to be trained in all subjects to meet the increasing demand locally and internationally.

This new directive will also affect Kagumo and Kibabii teachers training colleges that train specifically for the Kenyan job market.

While noting that focus was shifting from science-based subjects to humanities, TSC has told the universities to advise students seeking admissions in their institutions of the shift in the market demand.

At the Kikuyu Campus of the University of Nairobi, slight changes have been made to the way English and Literature courses are offered.

According to Prof Henry Mutoro, the principal, over 600 graduates this year will comply with the new requirement after the course adjustment.

“We have already communicated with the TSC and have adjusted our English course units appropriately,” he said.

The move will benefit secondary schools as the teachers will be in a position to teach many subjects.