Knut officials led by Assistant Secretary General, Hesbon Otieno, Stanley Mutai and other officials will today meet members of the parliamentary committee on education which is headed by Florence Mutua over issues related to the Teacher Professional Development (TPD).
Last week Otieno said they will meet the committee to present challenges teachers are facing ahead of the December TPD program.
However Knut reiterated its support for TPD with Otieno and Mutai asking teachers with challenges concerning the training to present them to their branch union officials who will relay the same to the national office.
Last week Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Collins Oyuu maintained that Teacher Professional Development (TPD) is not a new thing and that it is fully captured both in Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Act of 2012 and in the Code of Regulations for Teachers (CORT) 2015
Addressing the press at Awendo East Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church, Oyuu stated that when the CORT came into operation in July 2015 he was not even the Secretary General of KNUT.
“TPD is neither an issue of yesterday nor that of last year. This is an issue that has been running from 2012 through an act of parliament. Go to the TSC Act, which is a legal document, Section 35 talks about TPD. Look about the Code of Regulations that was taken before the sub-committee on legislation in parliament; it also went through the education committee in parliament that is 2015. This document started operating fully in July 2015, none of us was Secretary General; I was not there as the Secretary General,” stated Oyuu.
Let us look this thing with a bit of fairness, so that we actually bring accusations where they are actually due. You do not just wake up and start accusing everybody. They say l signed TPD, what do you sign in TPD? Which part of the TPD should be signed by the Secretary General? I think I shall not sit back and entertain this kind of nonsense, we must say the truth to our members. Why must I hide for popularity? I am not a populist,” he added
Oyuu however challenged teachers to shun from addressing their issues through the media but to follow the laid down procedures in seeking solutions for their challenges, and acknowledge the elected KNUT officials to reach out to the TSC for an amicable solution to their challenges.
His sentiments comes amid concerns raised by teachers over transfer of members of Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group (KNTPG) which he said that his office is not aware of any unfair teacher transfer which he termed as rumors peddled through different media outlets.
TSC has directed teachers to enroll for the training in a bid to boost the implementation of CBC in schools.
The Commission picked Mount Kenya University, Kenyatta University, Riara University and Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) to offer TPD training.
The programme will be offered both face to face and virtually (online). Teachers will have face to face training once a year during the December school holidays.
Online training will be offered twice a year during the April and August school holidays.
However due to this December holiday being short the training will be offered through online platform. Face-to-face training will happen during the April holiday.
During the December training teachers will be introduced to the first module, Introductory module.
This program will introduce teachers to Teacher Professional Development and to the Seven Kenya Professional Teaching Standards (KePTS).
The introductory module has five chapters, which are expected to be completed within one year.
The content of each chapter is based on current knowledge and research applicable to the practical needs of a Kenyan classroom teacher.
After the introductory module, the teachers and the instructional leaders will then proceed to the level one module.
There will be two different modules: One for the Teachers and the one for Instructional Leaders.
Level One module will have 5 chapters. A teacher or an instructional leader will take one chapter per year for a period of 5 years but to a maximum of 7 years.
Level two to Level six modules will each take 5 years.
Despite some teachers opposing the programme, the Commission has vowed to proceed with its plans to train its teachers.
“It is the question of what do we want best for our teachers, the future of a teacher in the country, the 21st century teacher. We would like to get a professionalized teacher, and that one we are not relenting on it,” said TSC Director of Quality Assurance and Standards, Dr. Reuben Nthamburi.
