Male Teachers Have High Number of Disciplinary Cases Than Females
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) typically bans male tutors from the profession once they have been involved in disciplinary cases.
Men make up more than 90% of disciplinary cases that result in deregistration, according to data that is routinely supplied by the commission and posted on its website.
After being struck off the register, a teacher is no longer permitted to work in any educational setting. Only four of the 366 teachers from 2017 who were removed off the rolls are women.
The 2015 Code of Regulations for Teachers and the 2015 Code of Conduct and Ethics serve as the TSC’s means of disciplining teachers.
The two sets of rules outline how to discipline teachers.
The commission had received 1,007 discipline-related cases by the end of June. Since the role was decentralised, 867 of these have been heard and resolved, while 140 are still pending at regional offices.
In March of this year, 36 male teachers had their registrations revoked.
1,128 cases were heard and decided in total in 2021 and 2022, compared to 703 the year before, the lowest number in five years, perhaps due to school closures brought on by the epidemic.
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Not all instructors subject to disciplinary action are fired. Those who are judged not at fault are either put back on the payroll right away or after serving their punishment.
Teachers are restored and paid for the time they were off the payroll when their appeals before the Review Committee are successful.
Members of the National Assembly Education Committee expressed dissatisfaction with the commission’s disciplinary practises and stated that terminated teachers cannot be hired back, even if they are acquitted of all charges by the courts.
In particular for sexual misconduct, the employer might use internal disciplinary procedures regardless of what’s happening in the criminal judicial system. This is unethical behaviour, according to Cavin Anyuor, head of TSC Legal, Labour, and Industrial Relations.
All 73 deregistered teachers from July 2018 and the 71 teachers that were removed from the rolls in August 2019 were men.
In May of the same year, 24 additional male teachers had their registrations revoked.
Recent deregistrations of teachers include 40 men and one woman in March 2020, 31 men in December 2020, 43 men and one woman in September 2021, and 44 men and two women in October of the previous year.
Nancy Macharia, the CEO of the commission, explained to MPs that investigations start as soon as a complaint is received.
The complaint is examined by a committee to see if an interdiction is necessary. The case hearing is the last.
Teachers who are embargoed for desertion do not receive half their pay while they are on interdiction.
They are not paid because it is uncertain where they are. There are cases where a disciplinary procedure results in dismissal and removal from the teacher registry, according to Ms. Macharia.
Such a teacher may file a lawsuit or make an appeal to the Review Committee. The names of such teachers are reinstated in accordance with the directive when an order is issued for reinstatement to the register, but not to work.
After 18 months, a person whose name has been deleted from the teacher registry is allowed to request for reinstatement.
Male Teachers Have High Number of Disciplinary Cases Than Females
According to Kahi Indimuli, chairman of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, the majority of male employees being fired for misconduct entail having sex with students and stealing money from the school.
Carnal knowledge allegations are grave. The principal finds it extremely challenging to document the offence, gather the evidence, report a teacher, and serve as the prosecution. The child frequently benefits from the discipline process, according to Mr. Indimuli.
One of the duties that some stakeholders in education want transferred from the TSC to an independent entity is disciplining teachers.
They contend that the commission is ineligible to serve as both the profession’s employer and regulator.
The National Assembly’s education team members complained that cases were taking too long.
Tim Toroitich, a Marakwet West MP, suggested that the rules controlling the procedure be altered.
This is causing pain for numerous teachers. Even if the allegations are found to be valid, they are not reinstated, he said.
