The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) says that there is need to retrain more secondary school teachers across the country to enable them gain enough skills demanded by the new adjustments in the education sector after the introduction of Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) as the secondary schools prepare for a double intake in 2023.
In a letter addressing the Principal Secretary for Basic Education Dr Julius Jwan, TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia pointed out that there are some new subjects such as pre-technical and pre-vocational education, life skills, agriculture and health education which require special attention setting a demand for more teachers to be trained and hired.
Dr Macharia further adds that optional subjects such as indigenous languages, Kenya sign language, visual arts and performing arts also require special attention pointing out that all home science and biology teachers will have to be retrained to enable them handle health education, those in social studies to be imparted with knowledge on how to teach new content on citizenship and those for sports and physical education to be empowered to deal with sports and health.
Presently, teachers are trained to teach at least two subjects but the CBC demands an expansion in teaching areas after the introduction of some subjects such as leatherwork, wood technology, hairdressing and beauty therapy, plumbing and ceramics and welding fabrication which lack teachers.
The Commission however has raised a call for action that sufficient funds be made available for the reformation and training of teachers for effective implementation of both junior and secondary curriculum saying that the Kenya Technical Training College should be directed to upscale the training of teachers in the technical oriented subjects required under CBC.
“Universities should be appropriately informed about the new subjects and that should guide admission of students pursuing education to meet the projected demands,” says the commission.
Almost all primary school teachers handling the CBC up to Grade Five have been adequately trained on the new system already.
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