NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 29 – Top universities missed out on the accreditation to offer Teacher Professional Development (TPD) program due to lack of the requisite infrastructural framework, while some snubbed the tendering process.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) revealed that several others failed the test as they did not meet the threshold required for them to have adequate training centers at the sub-county level.
“Most of the universities which applied couldn’t raise the sub-county venues which were critical in the tendering process. As TSC we didn’t want most of our teachers traveling to Nairobi or major cities to study the refresher course,” TSC CEO Nancy Macharia said during a media engagement in Naivasha at the weekend.
On September 22, TSC rolled out the TPD program, a new module that will see public school teachers renew their professional certificates after every five years.
TPD is a life-long learning program organized in six-tiered competency levels where each level takes five years to complete, with a section of lessons offered online.
“For TPD, only five days are required for face-to-face lessons during the first school holidays with the other two holiday lessons being offered virtually. If you don’t have an online platform, how do we then shortlist you,” Macharia posed.
However, for learning institutions like the University of Nairobi which would easily meet the requisite measures to offer the refreshers course to learners, they failed to apply for the tender.
“We advertised and most of the universities like UoN did not participate in the tendering process, this surprised us. If something is in the open and you don’t advertise, what do we possibly do?” she wondered.
The legal team at TSC also revealed that some universities missed mandatory requirements in the tendering process such as tax compliance certificates among others.
“It was tendered as per the requirements of the law. A bidder has come and he doesn’t have a tax compliance certificate. We are a public body, the bidder would go to the public procurement review board, you must follow the law and take only those that met the mandatory requirement,” said Calvin Anyour, a lawyer at TSC.
“All is not lost because we have a contract that will end very soon and we will advertise again. We are a law-abiding institution and the procurement will be done in a transparent manner,” he added.
Among institutions that expressed interest include Mount Kenya University (MKU), Moi University, Alupe University, Riara University, Kenyatta University, Kenya institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
Others were Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), KEMI, French Embassy, Techno-Brain and Virtual Learning, NOVEL Technology East Africa Limited, Global E-Schools and Community Initiatives, CORRAT Africa, British Council, Life Skills Promoters, Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), among others.
However, those awarded the tender to train teachers were Kenyatta University, Riara University, Mount Kenya University, and the KEMI.
Education stakeholders have faulted TSC for rolling out the new policy without proper consultation, terming it unconstitutional. Some of them were opposed to the teachers training in exchange for promotion and salary increment.
Macharia however, insists that it is within their mandate under section 11e of the TSC act which mandates it to facilitate professional development for teachers in teaching service.
“TPD doesn’t belittle the education we got when we trained to become teachers. TPD is all about bringing teacher in terms of skills and current trend, keeping them up to date,” said Macharia.
According to TSC, Teachers will be required to pay Sh6,000 for each module in the training that will be conducted during the holidays.
