On September 30, 2025, the Centre for Character and Leadership in collaboration with the researchers from the Center for Character and Citizenship (CCC), University of Missouri-St. Louis, awarded Certificates to Secondary School Principals for successful Completion of the Coaching and Mentorship Speakers Series. The awardees completed a series of 8 virtual
coaching and mentorship sessions on Cultivating Virtues for Leadership (CViL), which were facilitated by experts in character education and servant leadership.
The Coaching and Mentorship Speakers Series, which began in August 2024, focused on cultivating virtues for leadership among school principals and teachers, emphasizing values such as humility, noble purpose, forgiveness, gratitude, courage, empowerment, stewardship, foresight, and integrity—qualities essential for nurturing servant leaders in education. The ceremony highlighted the collaboration with the Teacher Service Commission (TSC), Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association, Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), and Templeton World Charity Foundation; underscoring the importance of mentorship and coaching in educational leadership.
Speaking during the award ceremony, Peter Kingori, Director of Character Education Program stated that the CViL Program is in line with the KEMI core mandate of equipping education managers with technical and personal skills in leadership and management, and the TSC policy on Teacher Induction, Mentorship and Coaching Guidelines. The CViL program was piloted in
Kenya for a period of three years involving school principals and teachers from 31 Secondary Schools located in 16 Counties across the country. Dr. Melinda, CViL developer said that “we will soon have publication to show that Cultivating Virtues for Leadership program was relevant, feasible, acceptable and appealing to the Principals and administrators that took part in professional development.”
During the graduation, Dr. Charles Ng’ang’a, KESSHA representative praised the CViL program as he said, “we have learnt a lot especially about servant leadership. As a school Principal, we have realized that a servant leader is able to prioritize about the growth and well-being of the
followers within a supportive and effective learning environment.” The TSC Regional Director,
Victoria Muoka, praised the principals’ dedication during the training and called for continued professional development trainings on CViL to sustain growth of leaders in virtue-based leadership. She encouraged principals and teachers to be good stewards as she said, “let us always remember that we are the stewards of our nation. We are the people who are being looked upon by the parents of our country to ensure that the young ones, the learners whom
we have in our schools has a bright future.” Margaret Kiprono, Curriculum Support Officer
concluded her remarks as she highlighted that “you have the power to shape the next generation of educators, inspire innovation in your school and also model integrity, resilience and compassion.”
The event concluded with the presentation of Certificates, and a call for school principals to institutionalize coaching and mentorship within the schools, and embed virtues in all dimensions of teaching and learning, as part of the competency-based education.