Teachers blamed over their own misfortunes
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 teachers for their transfers’ delays and stagnation.
Despite the numerous open vacancies at all levels, TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia told MPs that teachers have neglected to show up and apply for the vacancies.
The positions remain open, according to Macharia, despite many requests from the commission for competent teachers to apply. Macharia was speaking when she appeared before the National Assembly Education Committee yesterday.
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 counties.
“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.
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.
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.
Teachers blamed over their own misfortunes
