4,000 miss out on teacher training
Some of the principals of primary teacher training colleges at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi yesterday during the selection of trainee teachers. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI | NATION MEDIA GROOUP
What you need to know:
- Dr Kipsang said the ministry would continue to allow the totally deaf and totally blind candidates entry to the colleges with a mean grade of C- (minus).
- Three of the colleges - Asumbi, Mosoriot and Machakos - also cater for blind teacher trainees, while the Kenya Institute of Special Education trains both blind and deaf teachers.
- Applicants were required to have attained a C plain in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam, with at least a D (plain) in Mathematics and a C- (minus) in English.
Over 4,000 candidates who hoped to join the teaching profession have had their hopes dashed as colleges concluded this year’s selection.
Some 9,731 out of 13, 873 applicants will now join the 24 primary teacher training colleges.
Those selected are expected to report to the respective colleges on September 8. They include 5,009 men and 4,722 women, according to statistics the Education ministry released in Nairobi yesterday.
“The computerised selection has been done strictly on merit, based on the zonal quota allocations for the 47 counties,” Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang told college principals, who gathered at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi for the selection.
Dr Kipsang said the ministry would continue to allow the totally deaf and totally blind candidates entry to the colleges with a mean grade of C- (minus).
Three of the colleges - Asumbi, Mosoriot and Machakos - also cater for blind teacher trainees, while the Kenya Institute of Special Education trains both blind and deaf teachers.
Applicants were required to have attained a C plain in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam, with at least a D (plain) in Mathematics and a C- (minus) in English.
These cut-off requirements have remained unchanged for the past three years.
Dr Kipsang said the ministry was constructing eight new colleges to replace those elevated to universities.
The TTCs under construction are Bondo, Kitui, Narok, Kenyenya, Garissa, Chesta, Ugenya and Kaimosi.
Training of new teachers is meant to address a shortage the ministry has been grappling with for years.
The country needs at least 80,000 more teachers.
The PS also cautioned the principals against retaining the original documents of the applicants even after they being authenticated.
“You must return the certificates of continuing students after verifying them,” Dr Kipsang said.
“The practice of retaining applicants’ academic certificates until they complete their training must cease forthwith,” he warned.
“By retaining the certificates, you deny them a chance for employment and thereby further entrench them into poverty,”
