News

TSC to roll out virtual learning in public schools

Wednesday, January 26th, 2022 03:04 | By
TSC boss Nancy Macharia
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Nancy Macharia PHOTO/Courtesy
TSC boss Nancy Macharia

The teachers’ employer will this morning unveil a teaching model to address the teacher shortage through the introduction of online lessons in schools. In the new model, a single teacher will simultaneously conduct lessons in several schools via Zoom.

TSC secretary Nancy Macharia will preside over the event at Alliance Girls High School in Kiambu county.

“TSC will launch Kenya’s first ever live streaming lessons through which one teacher can teach multiple classes of various schools simultaneously,” the teachers’ employer said in a statement.

In the statement, the commission say the teaching model will ensure prudent utilisation of human resources against the backdrop of persistent teacher shortages.

The model will see a number of schools within a certain area agree on the time to live-stream particular lessons and the learners will be logged in.

The statement did not specify when the implementation of the system will begin. It, however, remains to be seen how TSC will implement the new system especially in parts of the country where there is no internet connectivity.

There are also challenges such as the training of teachers to effectively implement the new model.

CBC training Macharia has maintained that teachers are required to use differentiated modes of instruction and assessment for learners to benefit individually and progress meaningfully.

She has stated that with the change in curriculum, the role of the teacher has been fundamentally altered because it ought to be aligned to the needs of the learners and the curriculum.

For teachers to meet the needs of 21st Century learners, Macharia said, they should possess additional skills that include a learner-centered classroom, students as learners, users and producers of digital content and project-based learning.

Early this month, she said the commission would in April start the training of secondary school teachers on CompetencyBased Curriculum.

“These are the skills that CBC is demanding of teachers, therefore you must enhance your pedagogical skills and content knowledge,” she said in a statement.

She also said that integration of ICT in teaching and learning will help improve teachers’ content delivery and classroom engagement.

TSC insists that teachers need to be techno-savvy to not only access online educational resources and diversify modes of curriculum delivery but also to access a range of automated services offered by the commission.

“I urge you to embrace remote learning methodologies as a strategy to ensure that learning continues even during pandemics such as Covid-19,” she said.

The commission says it is progressively addressing the teacher shortages. Transition policy Macharia said the government allocates funds to employ 5,000 teachers annually while TSC replaces those who leave service through natural attrition.

“Teacher shortage is compounded by mushrooming of schools and over enrolled classrooms which is as result of the government policy on attainment of 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary education.

This has put pressure on the existing teaching force, which was not commensurate with the learner’s enrollment,” she noted.

She said the teacher shortage stood at about 114,000 as at end of last year. Last week, TSC declared 2,945 vacancies to replace teachers exiting the service through natural attrition, with 2,053 posts for primary schools and 892 posts for secondary schools.

The teachers recruited will serve on permanent and pensionable terms and are expected to submit their online applications by February 1.

The recruitment exercise will take place in sub-counties for primary schools and in institutions where vacancies have been declared for secondary schools.

The new recruits will be expected to report on duty from April 25, when the 2022 school calendar will begin. Also to mitigate inadequate teachers in the public education institutions the commission said it has continuously lobbied for funds to recruit additional teachers.

To this end, it has recruited 15,000 additional teachers for the last three years and hired a total of 28,300 teacher interns. Teachers unions have been urging TSC to address the shortage of teachers to ease the workload.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general Collins Oyuu last week asked the National Treasury to release sufficient funds that can employ at least 20,000 teachers annually for the next five years to address the shortage.

“We have for a long time had the Teachers Service Commission employ paltry number of teachers annually as they try to address shortage in our schools. We need about 100,000 teachers employed,” said Oyuu.

More on News


ADVERTISEMENT

RECOMMENDED STORIES News


ADVERTISEMENT