A crucial national meeting for education stakeholders scheduled for tomorrow is on the verge of collapse after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) blocked its senior staff from attending the crucial event despite their invitation and sponsorship by a Government agency.
This directive which came on the eve of the crucial forum in Naivasha, Nakuru County, has created confusion and opened a fresh wound on the escalating differences between the TSC and the Ministry of Education (MoE).
The Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA),) which had organized the 2024 stakeholders’ workshop, has now written to the County Directors f Education (CDEs) who are the coordinators of the contemplated meeting to immediately demand for the refund of travel and subsistence allowances from the TSC officers who were to attend the conference.
However, the legitimacy of this meeting has been thrown into jeopardy after TSC wrote to all its employees advising them to snub the meeting. It is understood that the Commission CEO Dr Nancy Macharia stated that the teacher employer was not notified of the meeting in advance, hence the decision to withdraw from the conference.
“We have received, this morning, communication from the TSC that officers of the Commission will not be able to attend the 2024 Stakeholders’ Workshop scheduled to start tomorrow March 14, 2024 in Naivasha,” reads a letter dated March 13, 2024 signed by CEMASTEA CEO Jacinta Akatsa, which was addressed to all County Directors of Education who are County Teacher Capacity Development Committees (CTCDC).
The workshop was to bring together 5 representatives from every County in the country who include County Director of Education, TSC County Director, Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) County Chairman, Kenya Primary School Headteachers Association (KEPSHA) County Chairman, and County Quality Assurance and Standard Officer (QASO) along with trainers’ representative in each County as ex-officio members.
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They were supposed to discuss among others; challenges and strategies to improve the teaching of Mathematics and Science subjects in schools, and further examine emerging issues under the implementation of the new curriculum in particular reference to Junior Secondary School (JSS) and the contemplated Senior School among other things.
As a result of TSC staff giving the event a wide berth, CEMASTEA was forced to proceed with probably only two representatives per County, mainly drawn from the MoE, thus rendering the arising deliberations from the forum largely ineffective considering that teachers will have been excluded from the process.
Shocked officers from the TSC who had travelled from various parts of the country ahead of the workshop said that the abrupt decision taken by their employer had really inconvenienced them, stating that the Commission would have considered communicating early enough if they had plans of cancelling their attendance.
On the other hand, some County Directors of Education condemned the move by TSC saying that this was a direct insubordination to the Education Cabinet Secretary, Ezekiel Machogu.
“What does the TSC gain from these petty fights with the MoE? What have teachers to do with the wars? These battles are now affecting government programmes and activities and it is now time President William Ruto stepped in and take appropriate action,” a bitter County Director of Education from Eastern region said.
It was not lost on independent observers that this TSC action was nothing less than an extension of the long-running supremacy battles between the teachers’ employer and the MoE. Early this year, TSC rejected the proposals of the Munavu-led taskforce report that contained far-reaching recommendations on the education sector which were to be tabled before parliament.
The report’s implementation now hangs in abeyance as the two Government departments wrangle.
By Our Reporter
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