John S. Khabamba

 Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD)  has made a flurry of changes to the CBC curriculum in  upper primary and Junior school levels. This is according to the newly published curriculum designs on their official website.  Photo:Courtesy: KICD logo The curriculum developers at the start of the  year, made significant changes to the CBC curriculum framework by rationalizing the content from pre-primary to Junior school. This came as a result of the recommendations  of Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER). For instance, the learning areas in Junior School were reduced from 15 to only 9 (all of them being compulsory). This was geared towards addressing the overloads, overlaps and repetition in the related learning areas. KICD swiftly released the rationalized curriculum designs for use in the facilitation of learning as the process of publishing of new  learners' textbooks  in line with the rationalizaton and merger kick...

Budget and Appropriation Committee At National Assembly chair, Ndindi Nyoro has told the Teachers Service Commission to permanently employ JSS interns claiming the money was already allocated in 2024-25 budget. Kiharu MP, Ndindi Nyoro speaking in Nandi County  Photo courtesy   He urged the teachers' employer to officially communicate  the conversion road map to quell the anxiety amongst Junior School teachers. " We know, that the TSC is an independent commission but as parliament we have allocated money for confirmation of JSS teachers or interns into permanent and Pensionable. " I humbly request, please TSC give an official communication to JSS teachers who are currently interned on the day you're going to confirm them into permanent and Pensionable terms so that they   can actually know and they can be able to budget," he continued.  " We have heard voices from us, we have heard voices from the Treasury and we have also heard from the CS for Education, th...

Under fire  Kenya Union Of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary General, Akello Misori, has revealed that JSS interns confirmation was not on the table during negotiations to end high school tutors' strike. Photo: Courtesy  Speaking exclusively to NTV, at his office in Nairobi, a seemingly shaky SG,  intimated that the return to work formula signed between the union and the employer (TSC) did not contain the JSS confirmation component. "The issue of employing Junior Secondary School Teachers was not discussed despite the pressure to  TSC to include it into the return to work formula", Misori told the NTV journalist in the sit down interview. "The confirmation issue has taken the political route...the Ministry of Education gave out a promissory note on confirmation of JSS interns come January but as a union we cannot compel TSC to employ any teacher as it is beyond our purview," he continued. Akello, who is  on the spot  for 'unprocedurally'...

Teacher's representatives; Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) have taken different positions on the teachers'  strike that  was/is set to begin on Monday. KNUT Secretary General, Collins Oyuu (left) consults with his KUPPET counterpart, Akello Misori during a meeting with TSC.  Photo by The Standard Kenya   The two unions had issued strike notices with similar demands to the employer TSC earlier in the month. Top on the list, was the implementation of second phase of the 2021-25 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). A series of meetings were held to avert the crisis occasioned by the probable industrial action. The last-gasp talks at the Kenya School of Government yielded partial fruits as the employer agreed to honor the CBA pact. Although the fate of the other demands remained vague, TSC, in its press release, noted that the unions had agreed to withdraw the strike notices after consulting their inte...

 National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, John Mbadi has  now backtracked on his previous sentiments on JSS Confirmation. The CS now claims there is money allocated for the confirmation of JSS interns from January, 2025. Image: Treasury Cabinet Secretary, John Mbadi during an interview on Thursday with Citizen TV.  Photo courtesy of Citizen Tv Kenya  "Those saying there's money, they are very right. I was wrong and there nothing wrong with being wrong", Mbadi defended himself in undated audio interview. " I was misunderstood when I said there are no resources for confirmation," he continued. "What I meant was that due to cash crunch at the Treasury, we cannot afford to facilitate the confirmation from July to December this year. But there is an allocation of Ksh, 22 bilion for that process effective next year in January", he explained. The first time minister also disclosed that the communication has been made to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) over ...

 The chair of the Parliament's departmental committee on Education, MP Julius Melly has called out the National Treasury CS John Mbadi for lying about the JSS confirmation. "I was surprised when Mbadi woked up and claimed that there's no JSS money", Melly said while speaking at a function. National Assembly Education Committee Chairman, MP Julius Melly.  Photo by The Star "Budget making process is done in the Parliament not at the Ministry and there are printed estimates from the National Assembly to the Treasury.  I want to assure KNUT and KUPPET that, I being the chair of Education Committee,  saw Ksh 18 billion for JSS," he expounded Earlier CS Mbadi made the  shocking revelation on Citizen TV when asked about the allocation made for JSS Interns Employment.  " We don't have resources for confirmation of JSS teachers and employment of additional 20k,"Mbadi dropped the bombshell.  " There was a mention from the departmental committee on E...

Thousands of teachers in  public schools across the country have been  left in dillema as to whether to report on Monday next week or not. This follows conflicting communication from TSC and the Unions after the protracted consultative meeting which aimed at averting the looming industrial action. The crisis in teaching fraternity  reached full blown when teacher unions, KNUT and KUPPET threatened to lobby their members to down their tools ahead of opening for third term. The unions tabled six demands, top on the agenda being implementation of phase II of 2021-25 CBA. The second and final phase of salary increment was supposed to implemented effective July, 2024 but that wasn't reflected in July pay.  This, among other issues sparked teachers outrage who have accused the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) of draconian labour practices. The employer has been accused of non-remittance of third party deductions, failure to promote over 130k teachers leading to career sta...