KUPPET Official Urges TSC Not To ‘Terrorize’ Teachers
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Uasin Gishu Branch Chairperson Sosthen Bellat has urged the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to stop terrorizing teachers.
“We want TSC’s powers to be cut so that it can only deal with promotion and employment. It has a lot of power and needs to be reduced,” said Bellat.
While attending a forum to present views regarding the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) to the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, Bellat said that teachers were already being scrutinized and supervised by parents, Boards of Management, TSC Quality Assurance and Standards Officers and even village elders.
On his part, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Eldoret West branch boss Jacob Arusei expressed disappointment at how the CBC was implemented initially saying that it was done in a hurry and did not go through the required stages.
“For any curriculum to be effective, it has to undergo nine stages and this one did not even go through the simplest of the stages, which is public participation. This shows the government was not ready for the same. The normal curriculum development process takes three years and sadly, it was piloted for only one year,” said Arusei.
Regarding the double intake set to take place next year, the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) University of Eldoret Chapter Executive Secretary Philip Chebunet said that Grade 7 pupils were too young to be in secondary school.
“We are opposing that junior secondary students should stay in primary school since they have their infrastructure. Kenya is not prepared for the CBC. We must also go back and ensure that teachers are trained and content well prepared,” he said.
Chepkoilel KNUT Branch boss Sammy Bor said that the process of downloading examination papers from the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) portal for students was cumbersome and expensive.
“This curriculum asks us to download examination papers which cost up to Kshs. 200 per student and finances are inadequate,” said Bor.
He implored the government to provide adequate resources and training before proceeding with implementing the curriculum.
Representing the CB Review Taskforce, Prof David Some said that apart from the issues on the CBC, the other burning issue was the funding of universities.
“We have received a lot of data and recommendations and two issues have been raised numerous times, one is the transition of Grade Six students and the funding of universities,” said Some.
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