By Roy Hezron
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has urged teachers who are able to enroll for teachers’ refresher course, Teacher Professional Development (TPD) to do so to improve their skills.
Speaking at the union headquarters at KNUT house in Nairobi recently during a media briefing, the union’s Secretary General Collins Oyuu stated that the programme needs support from parties for it to succeed.
“The commission is seeking for funds towards the same. In the meantime, all teachers who are capable of financing themselves to pursue the programme should enroll for it since it is a regulatory requirement enshrined in the constitution,” he said.
He further added that the programme is necessary since it improves the teachers’ pedagogical and management skills as well as learning outcomes hence should be supported by both parties to ensure it succeeds.
He stated that TPD is a requirement in the teaching service adding that they agreed with TSC to organize sensitization workshops to all teachers so as to make them understand TPD and its implementation.
“TPD was structured and rolled out in 2013 through the required statutory laws. It was then an integral part of the 2015 reviewed Code of Regulations for Teachers (CoRT) and finally became a discussant in the 2016-2021 CBA,” said Oyuu.
He further added that the union discovered that the commission did not invest in sensitizing teachers on its need, usefulness, involvement and it benefits.
“In its roll out; some resistance was witnessed from stakeholders and the public majorly because proper sensitization was not carried out,” he added.
Oyuu stated that KNUT leadership should work together with other stakeholders to secure a budgetary allocation particularly to fund the training for all the teachers, since the teachers are currently financially strained having not received any salary award in the recent past.
The teachers retraining programme was rolled out by TSC on September 22, 2021 at Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA).
