The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Kisumu chapter has welcomed the impending retirement of the Teacher’s Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia.
KUPPET area executive secretary Zablon Awange said that they have been wondering for a long time when Macharia will exit from the stage. Awange said the new holder of the position should be someone who cares for the needs and welfare of teachers across the country.
Speaking in his Kisumu office, Awange said they hope there will be no further delocalization of teachers and other unpopular policies such as TPD which members fought against with tooth and nail.
Under Macharia’s reign, Awange said, several teachers have never known what a promotion is. At the same time, the government should address issues affecting grade nine learners. Only grades seven and eight should be domiciled in primary school while grade nine should be moved to high school. Many schools still do not have classrooms, libraries and laboratories also citing lack of teachers and poor training of teachers.
The official pointed out that a number of teachers still teach subjects which they are not competent to handle. He called for a major radical shift in the implementation of the new level of learning.
He argued that the one-year implementation of the Junior Secondary School has been a nightmare and plagued by numerous problems. “We have a lot of underutilized resources in secondary schools while primary schools are struggling. These include trained teachers and infrastructure,” many high schools will have a lot of spaces since there will be no form ones.
He also cited an acute shortage of qualified teachers in junior secondary schools as one of the major challenges affecting JSS. According to Awange, many teachers assigned to Junior School are either teaching for the first time thus taking time to adjust, or lack subject mastery in the areas they are tasked to handle due to shortage of teachers.
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On January 15th, the Ministry of Education stated that the government had allocated Ksh3.9 billion for the construction of an additional 15,021 classrooms for Junior Secondary School (JSS) by 2025 to accommodate the first-grade 9 learners. Then Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said the World Bank will provide an additional Ksh9 billion towards the building of 9,000 classrooms. The National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) will also give support to guarantee that the classrooms are ready for use by 2025.
He lauded the government’s move to employ more teachers. Awange urged that the issue of JSS union membership should also be well spelt out.
The official mentioned that they do not expect schools in the area to be punished when form four exam results are released. ‘Many teachers were profiled during the exams, we don’t want a repeat of the same’ he said.
By Fredrick Odiero
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