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Anyuor said since the commission has the mandate to register teachers, then it must also set the qualifications for those it registers.
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He acknowledged that the registration framework being proposed has become contentious
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One will be required to have scored at least a C plain mean grade to become a teacher in new proposals by the Teachers Service Commission which will scrap P1 certificate teachers.
The commission said the proposal in the TSC Amendment Bill will have the lowest grade teacher being a Diploma holder and not a certificate holder.
The Commission has said it is only trying to ensure quality education by delivering quality teachers to classrooms.
Currently, students who scored D are qualified to go for P1 teaching certificates.
In the new proposal, to qualify as an ECDE teacher one is to obtain a diploma. Diploma teachers must have a C plain mean grade.
TSC’s Legal Affairs Director Cavin Anyuor said that the teacher must have scored at least a C- in English and D in mathematics.
“If I scored E in English, can I teach a learner till they understand and pass their exam?” he posed.
“All we want is a quality teacher who can get us a pilot who can take us over Lake Victoria."
Anyuor, during a sensitisation forum with the media in Nairobi, said since the Commission has the mandate to register teachers, then it must also set the qualifications for those it registers.
He acknowledged that the registration framework being proposed has become contentious.
“Registration framework is what are the requirements for you to become a teacher. This is where the entry grade is housed. There is a clamour that the entry grade either be reduced or be enhanced or maintained where they are,” he said.
Anyuor noted that the entry grade for the teaching profession is usually set low yet other professions like law, medicine and engineering have high entry grades.
“Teaching is the mother of all these professions. So you want low-quality teachers and still expect them to produce an Engineer or a pilot who will not take us to the sea," he said.
“As the stakeholder's engagement goes on Kenyans must ask themselves, do you want a quality teacher or do you want a teacher who scored low grades then expect them to work miracles to produce pilots?”
Further, he said the Ministry of Education is engaging that of Labour and Foreign Affairs to take teachers of English to Germany.
“You've seen nurses being exported to other countries. We also want to export our teachers. But the question is what is the quality of the teacher we're taking out there,” he said.
Anyuor said there have been a lot of changes in the education sector like the transition to CBC and the lowest grade in the teaching service being upgraded from a certificate to a Diploma.
“What will be the entry qualification of this diploma teacher? Should we use what we used to train a certificate teacher to train a Diploma teacher? You must also compare these qualifications against changes that have happened in the education sector at large,” he said.
On the fate of those currently in colleges pursuing P1 teaching certificates, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia gave assurance that there is no need to worry as they are consulting with the Ministry of Education on the way forward.
"What we think at the commission is the quality of education is commensurate to the quality of its teachers. And we have given you our proposals and we want your feedback as Kenyans on the proposed qualifications," Macharia said.
Other than setting the minimum standards for registration as a teacher, the commission also seeks to prescribe continuous professional development programs in newly inserted sections immediately after section 23 of the Act.
The amendment, if passed, will also allow the commission to issue and cancel certificates of registration to tutors.
Macharia called on Kenyans to give their recommendations on the TSC Amendment Act before it is submitted to Parliament.