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Kenya: 26,500 Miss Places in Teachers' Colleges
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The Nation (Nairobi)
9 July 2008
Posted to the web 9 July 2008
Benjamin Muindi
Nairobi
This year's selection of students to join teacher training colleges was done Tuesday at Thogoto in Kiambu, with calls to improve the quality of education being offered.
Of the 35,011 Form Four graduates who applied, only 8,503 were selected by the ministry of Basic Education to join the 19 public colleges.
To enhance gender equity in the selection, 4,050 males and 4,453 females were picked out of 17,097 males and 17,914 females who applied this year.
Unlike in the universities' joint admissions board, admission to the colleges is strictly dependent on bed capacity, besides the minimum grade C in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. The minimum entry grade was lowered to C- for totally blind and deaf candidates.
Addressing the college principals, senior deputy secretary in the ministry of Education Michael Ojiambo said that the 2008/9 selection recorded the highest number of applicants, up from last year's 32,924 applicants.
"This shows a significant demand of education in middle-level colleges like teacher training," he said, adding that the 19 colleges cannot absorb all those who qualify due to the limited resources.
The Government has disbursed Sh10 million as bursaries for needy students.
The Secretary of Basic Education, Prof George Godia, urged the principals to initiate income-generating activities to supplement the budgetary allocations.
"Too much dependence on the ex-chequer shows a lack of vision and creativity among the administrators," he said.
In line with the Vision 2030, the Government aims at employing 28,000 teachers by the year 2012 to reduce the acute shortage of teachers in schools.
This year 6,000 teachers are being recruited by the Teachers Service Commission, with an estimated 600 having left the service for other professions.
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According to the TSC, there is still a shortfall of about 58,000 teachers.
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