More than 300,000 unemployed teachers holding the now-obsolete P1 teaching certificate qualification will be prioritised in future employment says the Teachers Service Commission .
In August 2021 tsc introduced a retraining programme for unemployed teachers with P1 certificates to upgrade to the new nine-month Diploma in Primary Teacher Education to match the current requirement.
P1 certificate done by teachers has been in operation for over 50 years.
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There has been a lot fears that teachers holding the certificate qualification after the upgrade to diploma qualification could be locked out of future employment by the commission.
On Friday TSC boss Nancy Macharia said all teachers trained for the P1 certificate courses will be employed despite the policy change.
Dr. Macharia said that the commission still recalls that it was a government policy to train certificate P1 teachers.
Dr. Macharia added that the teachers trained before the policy came in place must be employed and they will not be disadvantaged.
Dr. Macharia was speaking in Naivasha during a media workshop.
P1 course was designed to facilitate learning in the 8-4-4 system , that is being replaced by the Competency-Based Curriculum.
The Kenyan government had in September asked unemployed teachers to attend a nine-month retraining programme to advance their certificate qualification to a diploma to be CBC compliant.
The teachers’ employer in May wanted to have the unemployed teachers upgrade to diploma.
This new change is expected to affect over 300,000 teachers currently qualified and registered by TSC but yet to be absorbed in public employment.
With the new diploma training, the entry requirements for admission to the teacher training colleges was elevated to a mean grade of C (plain) in KCSE.
All teacher trainees hoping to become primary school teachers need to have scored C (plain) in English, Kiswahili, Mathematics and one humanity and one science subject.
Those willing to be diploma trainees will specialise in three subjects in the learning areas they wish to focus on.
Areas of specialisation are grouped into four clusters, but teachers will only pick one subject from each category.
With the curriculum designs cluster one subjects are Kenya Sign Language, Indigenous Languages, Foreign Languages (German, French, Arabic and Mandarin (Chinese).
The Cluster two subjects are mathematics, home science, agriculture, and science and technology, while cluster three subjects are social studies, and religious education (Christian, Hindu, Islam).
Those teachers who choose cluster four subjects will specialise in art and craft, and music. Mandatory subjects include English, Kiswahili, physical and health education, and Kenya Sign Language for the hearing-impaired.
The Kenyan government hopes the new programmes will enable teacher trainees to acquire the required skills, attitudes and competencies to effectively teach and deliver the CBC curriculum
