KUCCPS announces upgrade programme for P1 and ECDE teachers to Diploma level
By Nancy Marende, August 9, 2025The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has unveiled a new upgrade programme that will allow teachers with P1 or Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) certificates to advance their qualifications to diploma level.
The initiative, the latest addition to KUCCPS’s expanding student placement portfolio, follows the successful rollout of the Kenya School of Law’s Diploma in Law (Paralegal Studies), which attracted over 800 applications for 500 available slots earlier this year.
Through the new programme, eligible teachers can now apply for placement in the Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) offered in selected Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) across the country.
The training will be delivered on flexible schedules, beginning this month or during the November–December school holidays, to accommodate working teachers.
To qualify, applicants must be registered with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). The online application portal opened on August 6, 2025, and will run continuously, with periodic pauses for processing. The initial application deadline is August 20, 2025.
According to KUCCPS Chief Executive Officer Agnes Mercy Wahome, the programme is aimed at strengthening the delivery of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system.
“The upgrade programme will ensure that there are no shortages of teachers who are well prepared to deliver the competency-based curriculum, especially at the lower levels of learning,” she said.
“KUCCPS encourages all eligible teachers to seize the opportunity to enhance their qualifications and invest in the future of Kenya’s education system.”
This comes months after the Teachers Service Commission urged the government to retool the P1 teachers in the primary section to handle the crisis of teacher shortage in the junior secondary schools (JSS), which remains a mirage in the actualisation of the CBC programme.
Speaking at Amagoro after the induction of Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) school representatives on January 26, 2025, KNUT National second vice chairperson Aggrey Namisi noted that the current student-teacher ratio in JSS was a nightmare, which can only be addressed by incorporating primary teachers who are the majority where JSS is domiciled.
“Our JSS learners are not getting the quality teaching they require due to an acute shortage. This is despite efforts by the government to employ 50,000 teachers,” said Namisi.
“This problem of one JSS teacher handling 8 subjects is unrealistic and must be addressed immediately if we want to save the future of our learners.”
Namisi urged the TSC to incorporate P1 teachers who had training in a number of subjects and are more exposed to wider coverage as opposed to university graduates who specialised in specific subjects.
“You will find English literature teachers being asked to handle chemistry or physics practices; this is unrealistic and one way of crippling the education of our learners,” he added.