by Francis Muroki, Nairobi, Kenya, August 1997
THEME = CHURCHES
What's been happening? There's been a decision by the Teachers' Service Commission (TSC), to impose a 20% deduction on the salaries of all teachers attending in-service training courses. Since the introduction of the levy last September 1996, the number of teachers attending CISRET courses has dwindled from a maximum of 40 per course, to a mere 16, as seen in the most recent group which graduated.
CISRET is a Centre which provides in-service training for religious education teachers. They come from various dioceses to pursue an intensive three-months study and formation course under the auspices of the Kenya Episcopal Conference. Started in 1981, nearly 2,000 teachers have so far graduated from the Centre.
The course is essentially designed to cater for the needs of primary school teachers of Christian Religious Education (CRE Joint Syllabus) and the Pastoral Programme of Instruction (PPI - Catholic). It aims at making teachers thoroughly familiar with the content and methodology of the Religious Education Programme, approved by the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE), and the Ministry of Education.
The programme also sets out to help teachers deepen their personal sense of God and a sense of serving God in their teaching profession.
Father Nicholas Motherway is CISRET's Director. He says that the Centre was set up as a joint Church-Government initiative in implementing the ministry's policy on religious education, and has continued to give deeper motivation and sense of purpose to teachers, who come to its courses. Often, CISRET graduates have been promoted to posts of higher responsibility on the strength of their good character and competence. This is not surprising, because to be accepted for this course, teachers have to satisfy stringent criteria and screening. Totally financed by the Church, courses at CISRET cover all aspects of the CRE/PPI syllabuses currently taught in the country's primary schools, with a focus also on the teacher's personal growth and professional development.
From 1981 until September 1996, the TSC paid the teachers their normal full salary, whilst they were on the in-service course, as per the terms of agreement between the Government and the Church. But the 20% deduction now imposed, (from September last year), has greatly affected those interested in pursuing the course. This is a blow for the teachers, especially for those who have families to support.
Bishop Davies, CISRET's out going patron, says that he and other education officers at the Kenya Catholic Secretariat, have been to the Ministry of Education and the TSC to discuss this subject. But so far, nothing has been communicated to them. The Bishop said it would be a disaster for a Centre like CISRET to collapse. The Church asks for only one thing - that the 20% deduction imposed on hard-pressed teachers, be removed without delay, so that teachers can more easily attend such important courses, and bring some hope and enthusiasm into a vocation which is currently depressed, dispirited and lacking vitality and vision.
During the recent graduation and Commissioning Mass, Father Motherway thanked the government for releasing the teachers to attend the course. He said: "We might not be aware of the fact, but there does not appear to be any other country in Africa which has this kind of arrangement for teachers, as does Kenya. He said: "In Kenya, we enjoy a tremendous religious freedom which should not be taken for granted, but rather, acknowledged with gratitude".
END