Education CS Amina Mohamed dealt with a blow as demand rejected

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The Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki has dismissed Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed  attempts to lower teachers training colleges entry grade.

This comes after questions were raised over the fate of thousands of students admitted to colleges under the low grade which still remains unclear after her decision.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had rejected the plan and decided to seek advisory opinion from the Attorney General which to them is a major development .

In an advisory opinion dated November 26, addressed to TSC Chief Executive officer Nancy Macharia and copied to Ms Mohamed and Kenya National qualification Authority (KNQA) Director General Juma Mukhwana, Mr Kariuki said the CS and the authority had no role in determining the entry grade.

“In view of the foregoing analysis, the Commission is by dint of the constitution, the state organ with the constitutional power and mandate to set the minimum qualifications for persons entering the teaching service,” advised Mr Kariuki.

He went on: “This power is encapsulated in the commission’s duty to review the standards of education and training for persons entering the teaching service. There is no law that vests the cabinet secretary or KNQA with power to set such standards and were it to be there, it would be unconstitutional and therefore and therefore null and void to the extent of its unconstitutionality.”

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Mr Kariuki added that the overall consequence of the analysis is that the KNQA regulations, to the extent that they purport to define the minimum qualifications for entry into the teaching service are void for being in violation of the constitution.

In September, KNQA said students seeking to study for a diploma in Education need a C plain or C- in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam, down from the previous C+.

Meanwhile, those seeking a certificate in Education (popularly known as P1), need a D+, down from a C plain.

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