By Roy Hezron
The second intake of trainee teachers to Public Diploma Primary Teachers Colleges (DPTC) that was to take place this month has been postponed to a later date.
A circular from the Ministry of Education to the Principals of DPTCs informed them that the process will proceed after necessary logistics are completed.
“We shall inform you when the exercise will be done once we are through with the necessary logistics,” reads the message to the Principals.
The Ministry has also advised the Private Teachers Colleges to wait until next month to be told the way forward on admission of new students into the new Diploma programmes. That implies that private colleges might wait longer to start admitting students since there are no ongoing admissions.
A total of 24 Teachers Training Colleges (TTCs) had expected to receive students in the second intake that was scheduled to take place later this month.
The first intake, which took place in March saw only six colleges receive trainees. These colleges are Machakos, Thogoto, Shanzu, Egoji, Baringo and Migori .The trainees were expected to have joined their respective colleges in June 2, 2021.
The second intake of Diploma in Primary Teacher and ECDE process began on June 16, 2021 to get enough students for the Teacher Training Colleges which have been renamed Public Diploma Primary Teachers College (DPTC).
The government had targeted to place about 7, 000 students in 30 Public TTCs across the Country
The pre-service teacher trainees are expected to be trained on the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) when they join their respective public teacher colleges.
Selected candidates were expected to report on July 27, 2021 after a recently released guideline said all trainees must report on that date.
The new entry grade has been raised from C- (minus) to C (plain) for both the courses for KCSE certificate holders, with C (plain) in English or Kiswahili, Mathematics, and any Humanity and a Science subject.
This is a shift from the previous norm where those who had a mean grade of C- (minus) were taken directly with no specification being attached to any subject.
However, candidates with disabilities with KCSE mean grade of C- (minus) will be given priority in the recruitment process that has kicked off countrywide.
Trainees will be in college for three years in the new curriculum unlike before where they used to study for only 2 years. They will also go through a three month micro-teaching course commonly known to many as teaching practice, which will also apply to those taking DECTE.
The Primary Teacher Education (PTE) commonly known as P1 Certificate has been renamed Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE).
