Significant Victory for TSC as Court Approves Ksh 6K TPD Program
Significant Victory for TSC as Court Approves Ksh 6K TPD Program
A case that questioned the legibility of the teachers’ training program was dismissed by the court, and as a result, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was given the instruction to move on with the program’s implementation.
After the petitioner failed to provide evidence proving that the Teacher Professional Development program violated some sections of the Constitution, Justice David Nderitu of the Employment and Labour Relations Court validated the program.
“It’s not enough for a party to make an allegation and expect the court to automatically find it in his favour.
“A party in a case, unless otherwise provided for in law, bears the burden of proof,” the judge stated.
The petitioner had initiated legal action, claiming that TSC had violated applicable procurement regulations in selecting the academic institutions that were charged with carrying out the training by failing to involve education stakeholders during the launch of its program.
He went on to say that the TSC had forced teachers to participate in a costly program without first engaging with relevant stakeholders.
However, TSC defended itself, stating that the programme was focused on reviewing teaching standards across the country. TSC said that the scheme was rolled out after gaining complete clearance from stakeholders, contrary to the allegations.
“Besides the fact that the training is founded in the law, it is good in improving the standards of professionalism of teachers, leading to a better quality of education,” TSC stated.
On September 22, 2021, the mandatory training program was introduced, and its module was intended to serve as the foundation for evaluating teachers’ performance in terms of promotions and employment evaluations.
It was expected that each teacher would pay Ksh6,000 every module, which was applicable for a period of five years.
Additionally, the training was intended to be in line with the prerequisites of the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which was introduced to take the role of the 8-4-4 system.
Kenyatta University, Mount Kenya University, Riara University and Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) had been identified to offer the Teacher Professional Development modules. A teacher is be at liberty to choose an institution of his/ her choice where to take the TPDÂ modules.
