New TSC Teacher Recruitment Rules Spark A Debate
Yesterday, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) announced that it would be advertising 20,000 internship positions for teachers at primary and junior secondary schools (JSS).
According to the advertisement, only 2,000 places were available at elementary schools, while the rest 18,000 were set aside for junior secondary schools.
The Teacher Staffing Consortium (TSC) activated the online recruitment portal and provided a link for instructors who are interested in applying. Nevertheless, upon application, a number of previously unknown concerns surfaced and are causing eyebrows to be raised.
1. A criterion based on race or ethnicity
Applicants for teaching internships are now asked, for the very first time, to provide information regarding their ethnic background. There is a lot of confusion among teachers about why the commission wants to record teachers’ ethnicities.
Nevertheless, this might have something to do with the TSC interim report that was presented to Parliament back in May.
According to the data, the bulk of the 36,000 instructors hired by TSC in January were from the Kalenjin community. These teachers made up the majority of the pool.
According to the report that was presented by TSC CEO Nancy Macharia, the report was for 20,990 teachers out of the 36,000 that were hired in January. This information was included in the report.
Macharia told the National Assembly’s Cohesion and Equal Opportunity Committee that “at the time of preparing this report, 20,990 newly recruited teachers were on payroll from a diverse ethnic group.”
According to the papers from the TSC, the community of Kalenjin was given the greatest number of slots, followed by other large tribes such as the Luhya, Kikuyu, Kamba, Luo, and Kisii.
According to the report of the commission, there were a total of 4,048 Kelenjins recruited, 3,187 Luhya, 2,913 Kikuyu, 2,576 Luo, and 1,737 Kisii.
The communities of Kenya Arabs, Elmolo, and Murulle received one position apiece and were placed at the very bottom of the list.
Ogaden, Dorobo, Rendille, Sakuye each got two slots.
According to the report, the 20,990 available teaching positions were split amongst 36 of the 42 recognised tribes, which means that some six villages were not successful in obtaining even a single teaching position.
2. An obligation to present a Certificate of Good Conduct
The ability to generate a certificate of good conduct will soon be expected of successful teachers who are hired as interns.
When Prof. Fatuma Chege, Principal Secretary of the State Department for Implementation of Curriculum Reforms, made the statement in 2021 that all instructors were required to have the document, the problem of the certificate of good conduct requirement was brought to light for the first time.
According to Chege, under the new curriculum (CBC), it will be impossible for a teacher to practise their profession unless they have a Certificate of good conduct.
According to Professor Chege, this is one of the many improvements that will come about as a result of the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum, which will assist to instill integrity in the education system.
According to her, the reforms would make it easier to weed out teachers who do not have appropriate behaviour or work ethics.
It will also be necessary for anyone who wish to teach in private schools to obtain it before they can do so legally.
The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is the one who can give a certificate of good conduct, and that certificate can be renewed once a year has passed.
In addition, one will be required to pay a fee of 1,050 Kenyan Shillings in order to get the document.
3. There is no wiggle room for editing.
Teachers who are applying for internships with the current application have discovered that it is extremely difficult to change data once it has been entered and submitted.
In the past, teachers would review and amend student data in case the students made any mistakes. However, applicants need to be cautious because the open position does not include such an option in the present recruitment.
New TSC Teacher Recruitment Rules Spark A Debate
