It’s wise and fair for the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to deploy all P1 teachers who have obtained higher qualifications of Diploma and Bachelor’s degree to Junior Secondary School (JSS) instead of deploying only a few.
Education News Newspaper Vol 274 reported that TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia said: “All p1 teachers who have higher qualifications have been deployed to Junior Secondary School (jss)…”
The information is wrong since there are so many teachers who were left out because they did not get a C+ in their KCSE. This implies that they were not considered during the deployment, and that no one bothered to find out, for instance, whether they had an Honors Degree, a pass or a distinction at their diploma level.
In case Dr Macharia doesn’t know, things are quite different on the ground. The teachers deployed to JSS aren’t the only ones teaching JSS students. How can they when the commission has only deployed an average of 2 teachers per school?
What I mean is, many teachers, including those who have been discriminated against, are being forced to teach in JSS by some school heads. Do you think they are doing a good job?
To ensure meaningful teaching and learning goes on in JSS, P1 teachers with higher qualifications who haven’t been deployed to JSS should be deployed.
Those without qualifications but are actually teaching in JSS because of teacher shortage should be given a special teaching allowance as motivation.
However, this allowance should be terminated as soon as the JSS moves to the secondary school section where it rightly belongs.
By Enock Shirandula
The writer is a retired educationist and author of “SO DIFFERENT SHE WAS”
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