According to the Teachers Service Commission,over 300,000 unemployed teachers with the now- obsolete P1 teaching certificate qualification will be prioritized in future employment.
TSC launched a retraining program in August for unemployed teachers with P1 certificates to upgrade to the new nine- month Diploma in Primary Teacher Education,which corresponds to the Current requirement.
The P1 certificate had been in use for more than 50 years.
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There were concerns that teachers who have upgraded from a certificate to s diploma qualification would be barred from future employment by the commission.
TSC boss Nancy Macharia, on the other hand,stated on Friday that despite the policy change, all teachers trained for the P1 certificate courses will be employed.
“Remember when we were training certificate P1 teachers it was a government policy.All those trained before the policy came in place must be employed and they will not be disadvantaged,” Macharia said.
The P1 course was created to aid learning in the 8-4-4 system, which is being phased out in favour of the Competency- Based Curriculum.
In September, the government asked unemployed teachers to participate in a nine- month retraining program to upgrade their certificate qualification to a diploma in order to be CBC compliant.
In May, TSC proposed that unemployed teachers be promoted to the diploma level.
The change is expected to affect over 300,000teacherswho are currently qualified and registered with TSC but have not yet been hired in public service.
The entry requirements for admission to teacher training colleges under the new diploma training were raised to a mean grade of C (plain) in KCSE.
Teacher trainees who want to teach in primary schools must have aC (plain) in English,Kiswahili, Mathematics, and one humanities and one science subject.
Diploma trainees will specialize in three subjects related to the learning areas in which they wish to specialize.
The areas of specialization are divided into four groups,but teachers will only choose one subject from each group.
Kenya Sign Language, Indigenous Languages, and Foreign Languages (German, French, Arabic, and Mandarin) are cluster one subjects in the curriculum designs (Chinese).
Mathematics, home science, agriculture, and science and technology are cluster two subjects,while social studies and religious education are cluster three subjects
Teachers who choose cluster four subjects will focus on art and craft, as well as music. English, Kiswahili, physical and health education, and Kenya Sign Language for the hearing – impaired are all required subjects.
The government hopes that the new programs will help teacher candidates develop the necessary skills, attitudes, and competencies to effectively teach and deliver the CBC curriculum
