Teachers ‘ignorant of curriculum’

Some teachers do not understand the curriculum they are required to teach, a study has revealed. This has been largly blamed on lack of support from the government and other training institutions.

Global Monitoring Report — Education for All 2000-2015 Report - which was officially released on Tuesday by Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi further reveals that older teachers in the country lose skills over time due to lack of in-service training. Most teachers who are furthering their education are doing so at their own costs, it adds.

The report notes that there was lack of innovative teaching methods in private schools in Kenya, with public schools having more scope to be innovative with the curriculum. 

Private schools are more wedded to parents’ demands for good examination results.

Comparisons between public and private schools in some developing countries suggest private schools have less teacher absenteeism rate.

The report further notes that living in a rural area or being poor and marginalised cuts a child’s chances of attending early learning.

“Many countries have policies to include pre-primary education in the basic education cycle, but do not support them financially,” it says.

Prof Kaimenyi said the government was working on the review of the curriculum in order to see where it can be improved.

He admitted there were cases of teacher absenteeism in schools and disclosed that his team was in the process of doing a study to determine cause.

He challenged TSC, as an institution tasked with hiring and disciplining teachers to take up the issue.

Prof Kaimenyi also challenged teachers to seek further training at Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI) in order to strengthen their skills and competency. The government has worked with teachers’ unions to draft a bill to reinforce mechanisms for reporting and following up on incidents of sexual violence in schools, he said.

The report also discloses that Kenya was not among countries that have achieved a gross enrolment ratio of 80 per cent or more in pre-primary education.

The countries which include Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Mauritius, Angola, Capo Verde, the Seychelles and South Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa had about 3.4 million primary school teachers in 2012, an increase of nearly 1.5 million since 1999.

Despite this, the report notes that teacher shortages remain a serious concern, with the region accounting for 63 per cent of the 1.4 additional teachers needed to achieve universal primary education.

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