Allow all graduate tutors to teach in secondary school

Kenya: I wish to inform Kennedy Buhere, the communications officer, Ministry of Education, that his article in The Standard on Tuesday was a misrepresentation of knowledge.

The truth is KCSE does not necessarily determinant future performance, neither does any school examination.

Those who scored C+, C, C- or D+, then proceeded and passed the P1 examinations, which is above KCSE or secondary education, have every right to proceed to higher levels of education and teach anywhere they desire.

Provided somebody studies at a university and passes, nobody should ask what you scored when you graduated in nursery school. You can’t pass examinations at university and be asked to re-sit secondary school examination. The focus should be on what people score in the higher institutions of learning and not secondary schools.

I went from secondary school to university without repeating or upgrading but I know for sure that there are those who have repeated, upgraded or gone through PI to university who are better than me.  So, my friends at the TSC and Ministry of Education forget their comfort zone. Everybody has a right to study and a right to better remuneration.

The policy of not employing teachers who did not attain a C+ in KCSE, if it exists, is outdated and needs serious and urgent amendments. This will encourage people to further their education. I expect the TSC and Ministry of Education to be the ones proposing amendments to such outdated policies rather than defending and enforcing them.

{Ombicha K Samuel, Nairobi}

I beg to differ with TSC that for you to qualify to teach in high school you must have scored a mean grade of C+ and above. The argument is that those who scored the said mean grade are capable of delivering quality content.

I believe that what TSC is trying to say is that there are limited job vacancies and this is a way of eliminating some of the qualified candidates.

I totally differ with the teachers’ employer. A university graduate who scored a C plain and above in  KCSE is also capable of giving quality education to high school students due to the ample preparation s/he has received at university level.

How can primary school teachers with a P1 qualification, many years of experience and a Bachelor of Education degree be told they are incapable of teaching in high school because they scored C plain in KCSE? This is disgusting.

I believe that those who scored C plain should be given an opportunity to teach in high school as long as they did well in the teaching subjects.

Supposing the student scored A’s in the subjects s/he was interested in but had a mean grade of C plain. Doesn’t this student qualify to teach in these subjects? 

TSC should change its rules and recommend that even those who scored C plain and somehow made it to university should be given an opportunity to teach in secondary  school so long as they scored B+ and above in their preferred teaching subjects.

{Kipchumba Collins, Nairobi}