Government Changes College Entry Requirements For Teachers.
The government has made changes to the entry requirements for teacher training colleges (TTCs). Earlier, students were required to have a C (Plain) grade in mathematics, English, and Kiswahili, along with a C in both a science and humanities subject, to qualify for primary school teacher training.
According to the recent changes, a student must have an average grade of C (plain) without cluster subjects of mathematics, English, or Kiswahili. Meanwhile, for those who aspire to become secondary school teachers, the bar is set at a C plain, embellished with a triumphant C plus in two subjects.
These changes have been made into reality by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER), a testament to the nation’s commitment to the transformation of education. The Kenya Teachers Colleges Principals’ Association (KTCPA) urged the Ministry of Education to send circulars to TTCs to allow them to adopt the revised entry requirements.
“The revised entry requirements are very important for the country because, for example, a teacher has to master the content of a subject in which you specialize, so you have to have a higher grade in the subject you want to teach. In the beginning, it was still a C plus in the subject. But what has been reduced is from a C plus to a C plain in the average grade,” said KTCPA chairman Paul Barasa.
He added that all TTCs had adopted the competency-based teacher education program.
“In the primary teacher training colleges, we have the Diploma in Primary Teacher Education, Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education, and Diploma in Secondary Teacher Education and I can confirm that all the private and public TTCs have started these programs which are up and running,” he said.
Currently, Kenya has a total of 35 public and 28 private TTCs offering Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE), a Diploma in Primary and Secondary Teacher Education. The revised entry requirements according to stakeholders will help TTCs that are struggling with low enrolment to boost the number of pre-service teachers. Some TTCs have enrolments of less than 20 students.
Some TTCs currently enroll fewer than twenty students due to challenges like insufficient budget allocations, inadequate fee payments by parents, and low enrollment rates.
