Teachers in public schools will now be required to renew their professional certificates after every five years.
The teachers, in a new policy, will now be required to undertake in-service professional training lasting for five years upon which they will get their certificates renewed.
The professional development will run for 30 years and has six modules each lasting five years.Teachers will be required to pay Sh6,000 for each module.
Kenyatta University, Mount Kenya University, Riara and Kenya Education Management Institute will be responsible for the training.
According to TSC, the four institutions have been contracted on an annual long agreement with an option for extension.
Teachers Service Commission, the employer of tutors in public schools, on Wednesday rolled out refresher courses for the 340,000 tutors across the country.
TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said the plan is to professionalise the teaching fraternity to match other careers like Law and Engineering.
“We had a very hard time in negotiating for teachers because when you are at the negotiations table they referred to teachers as unskilled or semi-skilled,” Macharia said.With the roll out, Macharia argues there is going to be respect for the teaching profession.So too, she says the teachers will be up to date with the changes in the academic world.
“We need to see our teachers conduct research projects and write academic and acclaimed research papers to improve the teaching quality in schools,” Macharia said.
However, Macharia says missing out on professional training will not affect their chances for a promotion.