The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has finally taken over placement of teachers to diploma colleges.
Education cabinet secretary Prof George Magoha said that KUCCPS placed applicants for admission to 32 public diploma primary teacher training colleges.
He added that these students will be trained to deliver the CBC curriculum and that 1,538 students have been placed in Diploma in Primary Teacher Education and Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education.
The move trails recent development of the KUCCPS directive where the Ministry of Education transferred admission of new TTC students to the placement agency which means the students in the institutions will now be eligible for loans from the Higher Education Loans Board.
The TTC admissions will be done online through KUCCPS unlike previously where it was conducted by the ministry at the county headquarters, and involved applicants manually filling and submitting application forms.
He said that Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service has placed 293 students to three colleges offering Diploma in Secondary Teacher Education, of Lugari, Kagumo and Kibabii with 164 female and 129 male who will be trained to deliver the CBC curriculum whereby the majority of female students will be taking the Primary Teachers courses to handle CBC learners.
Dr. Mercy Wahome, the Chief Executive Officer KUCCPS noted that KUCCPS will add value to the TTC admission process by utilising its computerised placement system to guarantee fair competition among applicants.
She added that the one thing we pride ourselves in, is being able to place students in the fairest way possible so that we can assure the Ministry that (KUCCPS) is ready for the task.
She also spelt out the roadmap for the admissions activity for the second batch of students who will join the institution to undergo training under the Competency-Based Curriculum and that KUCCPS has listed 35 teachers training colleges on their portal for placement this year.
In the 2021 placement, the capacities at the three secondary diploma TTCs were filled 100 per cent by KUCCPS. The primary diploma TTCs attracted 990 trainees of the 10,000 that the ministry’s recruitment targeted.