Teacher across the country have come out gun blazing and castigated their unions for always coming late on issues affecting them, like promotions.
“Unions always wait for problems to arise, then use them to stamp their relevance. What was hard for them to request TSC to distribute promotion vacancies early, before we attended interviews?” Madam Dorothy from Kakamega County asked in distress.
Her sentiments were echoed by teachers in Homa Bay who spoke to Education News.
This came after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) quickly responded to the Education Committee Chair’s demand that the recently promoted teachers be distributed across the various counties.
In its clever and technical strategy, the Commission analysed how the various job groups were allocated to counties.
The teachers suggested that early engagement of their unions in a promotion exercise with their employer would not have caused the MPs to suddenly halt the whole process.
Many promoted teachers feel they deserve the promotion because they have stagnated in the same job group for years. They also feel that their unions should have demanded the TSC’s clarity on the issue rather than waiting for the MPS to follow suit.
“I wonder why we have these unions. Teachers have started relying on their MPs for representation,” Said Antony,a teacher at Meru County.
ALSO READ:
Empowered to thrive: Trans Nzoia youth flock to VTCs after fee boost
Education News embarked on a customer satisfaction survey regarding the ongoing debate over what many stakeholders viewed as botched teacher promotional interviews conducted by TSC in early January of this year. The survey earmarked four out of the eight regions.
From the report, teachers feel that their unions have left them on crucial issues affecting their profession. Recently, MPS suggested to the commission a plan to
Reintroduce the delocalisation policy, which affected thousands of teachers, an issue many of the interviewed teachers feel that their unions have not come out to reject.
“We know they will surface after the MPs pass it,” Said one agitated teacher affected by the policy. The MPS now see delocalisation as solving the teacher shortage in hard-to-staff areas.
The survey suggests that the mainstream unions, Knut, Puppet, and Kusnet, up their representation mantles since the teaching fraternity is facing unprecedented challenges that require their attention now more than ever.
By Mark Otieno Jonyo.
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
>>> Click here to read more informed opinions on the country’s education landscape
>>> Click here to stay ahead with the latest national news.
