An article by a website dubbed News Daily claiming that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has invited more qualified universities to offer Teacher Professional Development (TPD) modules is false.
The article dated Sunday, October 17, titled Good News To Teachers As TSC Invites More Qualified Universities To Offer TPD Training, alleged that teachers across the country had opposed TSC’s decision to only allow five institutions to offer this refresher course to teachers across the country.
Another website dubbed Education Updates also carried the same claim on Sunday, October 17, in an article titled, Welcoming News To Teachers As TSC Invites More Qualified Universities To Offer TPD Training.
“The Teacher Service Commission (TSC) invites qualified and competent service providers to express interest in the provision of the TPD training and related programmes for registered teachers in Kenya.
"Eligible and qualified service providers may bid as individual entities or as a consortium,” a section of the article reported.
TSC, on Sunday, October 17, however, rejected these reports and flagged them as False.
The commission shared a debunked image of the article by News Daily on its Twitter page.
In September 2021, TSC selected Mount Kenya University, Kenyatta University, Riara University, and the Kenya Education Management Institute to offer professional courses for teachers.
The refresher courses were made mandatory for teachers, who will further renew their practising certificates every five years as TSC shifts from the old scheme of service that allowed the automatic progression of a common cohort of teachers.
TPD will be administered using technology and will address Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (PACK) and other content in line with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) that will enhance teachers’ skills throughout their careers.
Every teacher and principal will undertake at least one module per year at the cost of Ksh6,000 per course. They will be required to do a maximum of five courses in their career at Ksh30,000.
Modules for teachers will include; Professionalism, Pedagogy, Competency-Based-Curriculum and Assessment, inclusive education practices, Comprehensive School Health and Safety, Instructional Leadership and Financial Literacy Skills.
Claims alleging that TSC invited other universities to apply to offer TPD training was clarified by the commission and are thus false and misleading.
This fact-check was produced by Kenyans.co.ke's John Mbati in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.