TSC Faults Teachers For Missing Transfers, Promotions
The employer of the teacher has distanced itself from the issues surrounding hiring, promotions, and transfers that muddle its human resources operations.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) instead blamed instructors for their transfers’ delays and stagnation.
Despite the numerous open vacancies at all levels, TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia told MPs on Tuesday that teachers have neglected to show up and apply for them.
The positions remain open, according to Macharia, despite many requests from the commission for competent teachers to apply.
“We have advertised for teachers to apply on social media and in the mainstream media on several occasions, but we are not receiving the required number,” said Dr. Macharia.
When she appeared before the National Assembly Education Committee on Tuesday, she was speaking.
The head of TSC noted that in order to fill posts left open by natural attrition, the commission had posted 14,738 job openings at the beginning of this year.
However, only 11,231 teachers were hired, while 3,507 positions went unfilled for want of qualified candidates. Of these, 1,021 positions were set aside for teachers under the affirmative action programme.
The 3,507 open positions were re-advertised by the commission in June 2023. The selection process is still ongoing,” Macharia added.
TSC may have purposefully established high standards to prevent teachers from applying, according to Mandera South MP Haro Abdul.
Does this imply that no teachers in the North Eastern region met the requirements to fill the open positions? Abdul questioned.
According to Dr. Macharia, 21,071 instructors received common cadre promotions in the previous year. She charged that educators were unwilling to look for jobs in other countries.
“Promotion based localisation” was an issue the commission had to deal with when it came to teacher advancement, she said, because it now depends on the amount of openings in a particular county.
Teachers cannot be “transferred” to other counties, therefore they are only competing for openings in their home counties, she told MPs.
Malava MP Malulu Injendi blamed TSC, claiming that after acting for many years, many teachers had remained in the same job category.
“Our teachers are disillusioned.” When do instructors in job group B5 still perform their duties? Does this imply that instructors are not promoted fairly? Said Injendi.
“Advertise more positions for permanent and pensionable positions to give the teachers some hope,” Said Injendi.
TSC Faults Teachers For Missing Transfers, Promotions
Dr. Macharia, however, put the accusation at the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), claiming that despite numerous meetings with them regarding teacher promotions, all of them had been met with silence.
She pointed out that TSC planned and deployed 8,367 qualified elementary school teachers to teach in Junior Secondary School (JSS) even during the transition.
“We have met with the SRC regarding the teachers in an acting position and have sent them numerous reminders, but nothing has happened. I receive a lot of pressure over teacher compensation from teachers unions and you MPs, but I am powerless in that regard. said Dr. Macharia.
However, according to her, a substantial number of teachers with certifications higher than C2, in particular deputies and primary school heads, decided against applying for deployment to JSS because they are already in more senior job groups.
The commission also absolved itself of responsibility for the relocation of tutors in various regions of the nation, claiming that it was able to carry out all transfers requested due to a lack of qualified replacements and job openings in several counties, particularly for school heads.
According to Dr. Macharia, the decision to transfer a teacher is influenced by the need for equal distribution and the best use of the teacher’s resources, the presence of a vacancy at the proposed station, the requirement for a replacement, the staffing standards in place at the time, and medical justifications.
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According to Kabondo Kaspul MP Eve Obara, equitable allocation and effective teacher utilisation are at risk, and non-local heads of schools have experienced hostility that led to their transfers.
When they refuse to participate in delocalization, some teachers are compelled to leave the classroom. For those who are unable to accept delocalization, we must assure instructors of their safety, Obara stated.
Due to a shortage of local instructors in arid and semi-arid (Asal) and difficult-to-staff areas, teachers from other regions had to be recruited, which led to frequent requests for transfers back to their home counties.
The company does not provide teachers the opportunity to apply for the posts, according to Committee Chairman Julius Melly, despite their repeated attempts.
We have instances when teachers have visited your website to request a transfer but have not returned. While some are unwilling to return, others are being bullied out of their schools by the community. What steps are you taking to address these issues? said Melly.
According to Dr. Macharia, at the end of last month, the commission had transferred 20,055 teachers back to their home counties after receiving applications for transfer from 46,962 instructors.
17,942 primary school teachers transferred after applying, compared to 10,967 from post-primary, of which only 2,113 were impacted.
This is because there aren’t enough acceptable substitutes or adequate replacements, respectively.
Service delivery at tsc head office is very poor of late. I applied for disturbance allowance way back in February, no response to date.
What do you mean by saying teachers are unwilling to apply for promotion
Some teachers who attended interviews have never known the outcome to date .How do they know whether to try out again or not.There should be a feedback always from tsc.
Most of those in subcounty schools were not considered for D5 ,even after attending the interviews.