25,000 miss out on teachers colleges slots

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File | Nation Education Permanent Secretary James ole Kiyiapi at a past function. 

By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Tuesday, August 2  2011 at  13:04

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More than 25,000 Form Four students will this year miss places in the country’s teachers training colleges.

This follows Tuesday's selection of 8,434 students by the 21 colleges out of 36,730 students who had applied to join the institutions.

Priority was given to students who scored a minimum of grade C in Form Four exam and completed school at least two years ago, according to officials.

Speaking at the start of the selection, Education PS James Ole Kiyiapi, said this year’s group maybe the last to be admitted to pursue the P1 certificate course.

“This follows recommendations for the course to be gradually phased out and replaced by diploma training,” Prof Kiyiapi said at Kenya Institute of Education (KIE).

However, this year’s intake is higher compared to the previous year, where 7,827 students were selected from 35,437 applicants countrywide.

The course takes two years after which graduands are registered by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) awaiting posting to public schools.

There are also proposals that the teachers will now be licensed, meaning they will pay a fee each year to a professional board.

Prof Kiyiapi said there was a current shortage of more than 70,000 teachers in the country’s public schools and the number was set to rise.

“The Constitution has not only made basic education free and compulsory but also a human right that the government must provide to all it’s citizens.”

However, the government this year has not allocated money in the budget for the recruitment of teachers even as the shortage continues to be felt in the schools.

Prof Kiyiapi said Parliament’s budget committee had set aside money for the employment of 18,000 teachers previously recruited on contract terms.

The colleges principals association chairman James Ziro said the 21 institutions are in deplorable conditions and need government subsidies to meet demand of modern training.

Part of the problem, Mr Ziro said, was the fee that the students paid.

“The current fee structure was approved 16 years ago,” he said, noting that each student paid Sh25,000 per year.