Teachers with low GPA urged to upgrade marks before applying

By LORRAINE JIMAL
TEACHERS with low Grade Point Average (GPA) must upgrade them before applying for teaching positions because only quality and qualified teachers are needed, according to the Teaching Service Commission. Commission chairman Samson Wangihomie said the Education Department would only accept teachers who had upgrade their marks at Flexible Open Distance Education (Fode).
“We want quality teachers and we want to provide quality teaching (to facilitate) quality learning,” he said.
He doubted that no parents would want to see their children taught by someone “who mixes English and Pidgin together”.
He said the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology required 2.5 and 2.6 teacher’s GPA to be awarded a scholarship.
Anything below that needed an upgrade to get the GPA up.
“Upgrade the C and D to A and B level before we can start talking about admitting and registering them as a teacher,” he said.
He said the commission and the Education Department planned to visit teachers’ colleges to check if their students met the standard requirements.
If they do not, they will need an upgrade.