Turkana gets first teachers college 28 years later

Bishop Mahon Teachers Training College

The gate of Bishop Mahon Teachers Training College in Turkana County on November 6, 2021. 

Photo credit: Peter Warutumo | Nation Media Group

Twenty-eight years ago, Catholic Diocese of Lodwar’s first bishop, the late Rt. Reverend Bishop John Mahon had a dream of building a teachers’ training college (TTC) in the region.

This, he planned to do with the support of the Norwegian government. However, the plan did not take off after the National Government declined to register the institution in 1992.

According to Fr. Desmond Miller, a priest at the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar, the Ministry of Education could not register a day teacher training college. The institution was then turned into a resource centre until last year when it was registered to operate as a full time TTC.

Fr. Paul Areman, the vicar-general Catholic Diocese of Lodwar said the dream had finally come to fruition. He was referring to a letter written by the late Bishop John Mahon in December 1992 which stated that there was an urgent need for a TTC in Turkana to improve the education standards in the region.

Fr Areman said Bishop Mahon Teachers Training College was registered on January 10, 2020. It received its first principal in October 2020 and seven tutors from the TSC.

The institution has 52 students who will be graduating in 2023.

Speaking during the college’s resource mobilisation ceremony, Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok said after his election in 2013, he developed a County Integrated Development Programme. Turkana was to have a university, a TTC and a medical college.  

During the ceremony, Ministry of Education official Kavai Kisia said the institution will help in bridging the gap of under-staffing in Turkana County.  

He called upon Members of Parliament to sponsor many teacher trainees from the county.