Teachers are breathing a sigh of relief following revelations that the government will meet the cost of the controversial Teacher Professional Development (TPD) training that was introduced by their employer last year.
Sh2 billion has been budgeted for in the 2021/2022 supplementary budget, which, if approved by Parliament, will alleviate the burden on teachers
Teachers strongly objected when they learned that they would have to pay Sh6,000 per year for each of the six modules they are required to complete over a five-year period. This means that a teacher would have had to pay Sh180,000 for the entire period if the government had not covered the cost of the training.
“We agreed as a committee that we would get this money from the Ministry of Education.” “We will now fight for the money to be included in the main budget,” Ms Florence Mutua, chair of the National Assembly’s Education and Research Committee, said yesterday when Teachers Service Commission (TSC) officials appeared before MPs at a Nairobi hotel on Wednesday.
TSC had planned to roll out the programme in 2018 but the plan was derailed following a court case filed by the Kenya National Union of Teachers demanding that TSC pays for the teachers’ training. The case was withdrawn by the new leadership of the union which assumed office in June.
Mr Milemba also asked the TSC to consider changing the service provider for the multibillion-shilling medical scheme which has been administered by Minet Kenya since its inception in 2015. He said teachers are dissatisfied with the services they receive.
Mr Ayabei said the request could only be considered at the tendering stage since it is an open competitive tender process and only those who emerge top are considered.
Ms Mutua directed TSC to provide the committee with a list showing how teachers are distributed across the country in order to determine the staffing needs. The list, she said, should be based on the sub-counties.
