Governors Resist Employment of ECDE Teachers by TSC in New Proposal
Governors are opposing the idea of moving the employment of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers from counties.
In its final report to President William Ruto, the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER), which is in charge of mainstreaming reforms in education, suggested giving TSC the authority to hire and compensate the instructors.
However, a few governors, including several CoG committee members, have disagreed with the taskforce’s recommendations.
The Water, Forestry and Natural Resources Management Committee’s chairman and governor of Taita Taveta, Andrew Mwadime, believes the government should respect devolution and refrain from interfering with it.
Dhadho Godhana, the governor of Tana River, and Patrick Ole Ntuntu, the governor of Narok, who also hold similar views, say the government should allocate funding to accomplish devolution rather than change the constitution to take their responsibilities.
The government is enforcing the mandate of county governments for the second time.
Governors were incensed by a meeting between President William Ruto and representatives of a health workers’ union on February 14 to discuss taking over county-run health services.
The Health Risk Commission, an independent organisation that will supervise the management of human resources for health, including recruiting, promotion, and the provision of all services within the health sector, was also proposed at the meeting, which was held at State House.
Governors Resist Employment of ECDE Teachers by TSC in New Proposal
The county executives view this as a violation of the devolved authority, and they have subsequently cautioned the federal government to refrain from meddling with and aggravating the industry.
Even though the Council of Governors advocated hiring ECDE teachers on a permanent basis and paying those with certificates, diplomas, and degrees sh24387, sh34395 per month, and sh46,494 per month for graduates, this is not currently the case in the majority of counties.
In reality, many counties have yet to hire the teachers on long-term contracts. This indicates that the majority of ECDE teachers are employed on contracts and receive a range of incomes; they are referred to as “carers” in this context.
After the first attempt was unsuccessful due to opposition from the Labour and Relations Court, this will be the second attempt to transfer ECDE teacher employment to TSC.
The constitution requires Teachers Service Commission, TSC to register qualified teachers, hire those already registered, and assign them to work in any public institution or school.
Pre-primary and vocational education are listed as County Government activities in Schedule 4 of the constitution.
Pre-primary education and childcare facilities must be supervised by county governments, including the hiring of teachers.
However, the majority of ECDE teachers want to be removed from the county payroll because they believe it to be unfair and unpredictable.
Once the idea is approved, the team suggested altering the TSC’s management of the ECDE teachers.
According to the team, P1 teachers and ECDE instructors with diplomas should be employed in the same work group and get comparable wages and benefits.
