TSC boss criticizes top universities for refusing to offer TPD training

Universities have come under sharp criticism for failing to show interest in offering teachers refresher courses.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia faulted the institutions for failing to bid when a tender to offer teacher professional training courses was floated.

Dr Macharia said that top universities and institutions that offer education training did not apply for the tender to offer Teacher Professional Development (TPD) courses.

Only eight universities applied, most of which did not meet the necessary requirements to offer TPD courses.

“We advertised and every teacher training institution was free to apply. But only eight universities applied. Some universities, the premier universities, did not even apply,” she said.

“Apart from Kenyatta University, even the University of Nairobi which is another university that offers education did not tender. If something like this is in the open and you do not tender, what can we possibly do?” she posed.

This comes after questions were raised on the criteria used to pick only four institutions, with top universities that offer education training being left out.

Only Kenyatta University, Riara University, Mount Kenya University and the KEMI were picked to train the teachers.

Macharia, however, noted universities will have another chance to participate in offering the mandatory refresher courses for teachers.

“After the expiry of the present one-year contract, the tender shall be floated again for all institutions to apply,” she said.

She added that continuous monitoring and evaluation of TPD will be done to ensure quality and receive feedback.

Macharia said one requirement is for the institutions to have a centre at the sub-county level.

 “We emphasised that each of the institutions must have a presence at sub-county level because in as much as most part of the sessions would be done virtually, we wanted some part of training to be done face-to-face,” she said.

It emerged that some universities did not tender because they didn’t possess the required documents such as tax compliance papers from the Kenya Revenue Authority and audited accounts.