Yatani faulted for leaving out Sh4.5bn teacher training funds

Teachers may have to pay for their professional training as the government failed to factor in Sh4.5 billion to foot the cost.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had been allocated Sh294.7 billion, an increase of about Sh13 billion up from last year’s budget.

Mr Yatani did not indicate whether the increment would factor in Teachers Professional Development (TPD) training costs.

The TPD programme targets all registered teachers in public and private institutions in Kenya.

There are about 750,446 registered teachers in the country. Of these, 341,760 are under the TSC payroll.

Another 170,000 are registered and teaching in private schools. Some 238,686 are registered but not yet employed.

Each teacher is expected to pay Sh6,000 for each module every five years.

In an entire teaching career, each teacher will be required to take five modules within 30 years, translating to about Sh180,000. MPs requested that the training cost be met by the government.

There were early indications that some Sh2 billion had been set aside for the TPD programme.

But Yatani steered clear of the matter and unions are now curious.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) secretary-general Akello Misori blamed Yatani for leaving out TPD in the budget allocations.

Mr Misori said failure to include TPD in the allocation will burden teachers more and affect the quality of education.

“The budget was so kind to the Ministry of Education and all the relative institutions which back up education in Kenya. How I wish the training allocation to address Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) could also cater for professionalisation of teaching.”

Kuppet and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) said even though continuous training sharpens skills, the cost should be carried by the employer.

Knut Secretary-General Collins Oyuu said the training cost should be paid by the government.

“We have pronounced ourselves on this matter and we are clear that the cost should be paid by the government,” he said.

Mr Misori added: “When it comes to appropriation, the same figure given to education should be re-dissected to factor in the components of increasing teachers’ numbers and look at CBC alongside TPD. This will guarantee a fair distribution of resources.”

He said the parliamentary Committee on Education had appreciated that TPD was supposed to be financed by the budgetary allocation from the Ministry.

The TSC is implementing the mandatory professional training course for all the tutors.

TSC Regulation 49(1) says every teacher who successfully completes a professional teacher development programme shall be issued with a teaching certificate by the Commission in the manner prescribed under the Ninth Schedule.

And under Regulation 49 (3), a teacher who fails to take out a teaching certificate shall have the certificate of registration suspended until the teacher obtains the certificate.