TSC permanently scraps PTE certificate, replaces it with Diploma

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has scrapped the Primary Teachers Certificate Training Course, popularly known as P1, in an ongoing review of the laws governing the teaching profession in Kenya, which has elicited mixed reactions from stakeholders in the sector.

The laws proposed for implementation include one that will entrench the entry qualification for teachers training, which now begins at the diploma level.

In the new changes, TSC is proposing that a teacher scores C plain and then at least a D+ in Mathematics and a C minus in English.

“Last week we met the caucus of all deans of universities offering teaching education to deliberate on the requirements for registration. We want to go to Parliament when the education sector is one,” TSC CEO Nancy Macharia said.

The teachers employer has also laid out a raft of measures that it says are aimed at streamlining the profession, including circumstances under which a teacher can be deregistered or punished for a number of offences including sexual one. It is also moving to establish and entrench continuous professional development for teachers.

But as the reforms take shape, teachers in the profession are set to benefit from upcoming promotions. TSC is set to promote over 30,000 teachers serving in the cadres spanning from chief principals to senior teachers and every position in between.

“We promoted 14,000 teachers in the financial year 2023/2024, in the process of promoting 36 in this financial year, we have been allocated Ksh1 billion for promotions in the financial year 24/45. So the issue of teachers stagnation will be over pretty soon,” Macharia added.

At the same time, teachers have been assured of better medical services as the teachers medical scheme continues to better its approach to the delivery of the same.

TSC has come into sharp criticism from stakeholders over some of the proposed amendment in the laws, with some accusing it of over-reaching and allocating itself powers it does not have.

The TSC, however, says the move to have the reforms in the sector is guided by the provisions of the constitution as well as recommendations of the presidential working party on education reforms.