Newly constructed Kwale Teachers Training College (TTC) in Kwale County, is set to open its doors this October.
The inaugural college built in Kinango Sub- County will be the second public TTC in the coastal region after the Mombasa-based Shanzu Teachers Training College.
The College will admit its first bunch of 134 trainees, who are teachers duly registered by the Teachers Service commission (TSC), for a one-year upgrading program.
Among the group, 38 students will be upgrading from certificates in Early Child Development to Diplomas in Early Child Development while the remaining 98 will upgrade from P1 Certificates to Diplomas in Teaching.
Early this year, the Ministry of Education directed all Teachers Training Colleges to suspend training of P1 Certificates and enroll students in Diplomas in Teaching with competency-based pedagogies.
Consequently, the Teachers Service Commission directed teachers with a P1 Certificate, to upgrade to Diplomas in Teaching.
Speaking to KNA, Kwale Teachers Training College’s pioneer Principal Hellen Machuka, said the Ministry of Education has put everything in place to see that the Institution is opened as scheduled.
She added that the TSC has dispatched admission letters to the selected students for admission in October 4.
“Everything is ready, we finally have the list of our students who shall be joining the college in two weeks’ time,” said Machuka.
Machuka noted that TSC is working around the clock to post tutors to the Institution before the admission week.
She said the hiring exercise was delayed when the TSC objected to the idea of sending employees to an Institution that was not yet functional.
‘‘We are in touch with the Commission. It has confirmed to us that we shall receive teaching staff by next week,” Machuka said.
In 2018, the County Government of Kwale passed a Bill to construct a teacher’s training college at a cost of Sh 300 million, to accommodate the increasing population of the youth seeking education in the county and the country at large.
Apparently, during a presidential tour to the region, President Uhuru Kenyatta, made an impromptu visit to the College, which was under construction then and donated Sh150 Million towards the construction.
The Principal said that most of the construction work is at 90 per cent complete, with the lecture halls and the administration block already in place.
Machuka added that the constructor is working hard to complete two hostels before the end of the year.
“We urge the County Government to release funds to have the hostel ready before mid-October,” Machuka said.
She said the Ministry of Education is sponsoring a hostel for male students and it’s believed its construction shall be ready in three months’ time.
By Raymond Zaka and Hussein Abdullahi
