Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu addressed panic by school heads in junior secondary schools over the delay in the deployment of Grade Seven teachers.
Machogu, while addressing the press in Nairobi on Monday, February 6, assured all public schools that the government hired enough teachers who are in the process of reporting to their respective schools.
“We have 36,000 teachers that we have employed who are reporting to their respective schools this week, latest by next week,” Machogu assured.
However, the heads of the JSSs which have received the teacher argued that the number did not match the workload that the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) demands.
“I thank TSC for giving us two teachers but for the remaining subjects because there are 13 learning areas, we will have to use our teachers,” Abed Maseno, a headteacher expressed.
Teachers also raised concerns about accessing textbooks for the Grade Seven class explaining that most books had not been approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
“We have looked for the books everywhere but they are nowhere to be found. When you seek alternatives, we are told that they have not been approved by KICD,” Maryjoy JSS headteacher Samuel Waweru stated.
Meanwhile, learning has been going on in private schools. However, Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) Chair Charles Ochomo intimated that they had their fair share of challenges.
“What we are not expecting to happen is the retooling of the teachers because CBC is a new development hence the need to do so,” Ochomo remarked.
On February 2, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) called on the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to hasten the deployment of teachers to avoid time wastage.
Meanwhile, there have been concerns over a low turnout of students in junior secondary schools, with lack of school fees being the leading cause.
CS Machogu admitted that the government was yet to release the capitation, Ksh15,000 per student, to schools pending final data on enrolment numbers.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE