Counties in North Eastern have suffered a major blow after the Labour Court stopped Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed from lowering the minimum entry points to teachers training colleges (TTC).
CS Amina had directed that D+ students seeking to join teachers training colleges (TTC) can now join after the government reviewed entry grade from C to D+.
The counties that were set to benefit from the new directive are from marginalized regions such as Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Tana River, Turkana, Samburu, Isiolo, Lamu, and West Pokot counties.
Justice Byram Ongaya, however, stopped the directive on Thursday following an application by Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (Kuppet).
Justice Ongaya certified the matter as urgent and also directed CS Amina to urgently convene a meeting with all stakeholders to harmonize the regulations of admission to the TTCs.
According to nation.co.ke, the case will be mentioned on January 3.
CS Amina while issuing the directive said marginalized counties such as Garissa, Mandera, and Wajir have been affected by teachers’ shortage after non-local teachers fled the region due to various issues such as security.
She said the move to lower the entry points in marginalized counties was aimed at ensuring the counties get enough local teachers to improve the quality of education.
Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki had rejected the proposal warning that CS Amina has no authority to dictate to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on how to conduct its mandate of reviewing the standards of education and training of persons entering the teaching service.