The school going population in Kenya has been growing at a rapid rate since the inception of free primary education. Strathmore University acknowledges the critical role played by Secondary and Primary school teachers and Heads in national development.

The head teacher, as a leader of a large number of people, including staff, parents and students, is subject to enormous demands. In an effort to remind head teachers of the important role they have in educating future citizens, the Institute of Humanities, Education and Development Studies (IHEDS) in Strathmore University ran two Teacher Enhancement Programme (TEP) seminars for educators from Embu and Western Province.

The seminars were held in Strathmore University. The first seminar, which was attended by Embu Heads, ran during the second week of April and was officially opened by the Most Reverend Anthony Muheria, Bishop of Embu Diocese. This seminar was also attended by Reverend Father Lawrence Njiru, the Education Secretary for Embu, and Mr Patrick W Kibui, the Principal of Kenya Science Teachers' College. The second seminar was organised for heads from Western province. It was opened by the Vice Chancellor of SU.

The issues addressed included financial management in schools; challenges facing the School Head; leadership style; management of physical resources and human standards; team leadership; teaching values in schools and work ethic.

TEP is now set to take the Teacher Self Image (TSI) seminars for classroom teachers to Embu and Western in August, 2005.