By Azael Masese
Deployment of teachers from Nairobi County to other parts of the country is running into headwinds as a section of those transferred are yet to report to their new stations.
Those promoted to serve as deputy head teachers had until 4th June 2018 to report to their new work stations.
In some cases, some of them have received clearance letters from their former schools’ heads in what is known in the teaching parlance as casualty letters.
Majority of those affected are female teachers, especially those transferred to Kitui and Kajiado Counties as most try hard to avoid the areas due to their vastness stretching as far as Tanzania.
Female teachers account for about 81 per cent of the teaching force in primary section and 68 per cent in secondary section and fear that the transfers will disrupt their families.
During the first week of July, a month after they were required to report to the new stations, some of them have been seeking intervention from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT).
Others have been visiting the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) county office, Nyayo House, to try and reverse the policy.
However, TSC County Director Bernard Kimachas termed this as an attempt to resist change and feared that if not firmly addressed it might snowball into a crisis.
Interestingly, majority of the aggrieved teachers say that they never applied for the administrative positions.“Of course they have never and they do not want to become deputy heads,” noted Kimachas.
However, he said that when positions of senior teachers were advertised, teachers from Nairobi gladly applied and were considered.
The successful candidates, he observed, were promoted and their packages improved equivalent to that of heads or deputies.
“They are being paid as deputies or head teachers and must serve in those positions,” he said, adding that the schools they were deployed to do not have deputies.
To replace them, a teacher must be appointed and before this, he/she must be promoted to a higher job group. Any unplanned promotion, he warned, will see a certain job group be bloated and this will see some teachers stagnate in one job group unnecessarily for long.
Speaking to the teachers who are poised to be deployed, KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion however warned cautious tread from any possible interdiction.
“We are not the ones to determine and do not have the magic to compel the employer to reverse the decision immediately,” he cautioned.
Dorothy Muthoni, the first National Woman Representative-Gender, wondered why the commission was transferring teachers with years to retire.
“Majority of those transferred are 55 years and above, it is offensive considering their age,” she noted.
Kimachas said that any teacher who is 58 years and above will be spared but those aged 57 have to observe the policy.
KNUT National Treasurer John Matiang’i said TSC is forcing the teachers to take up positions they never applied for and in a way punishing them. “They have no interest and morale to serve in those positions, he noted and if they are to be promoted, let it be within Nairobi,” Matiang’i said.
Besides, he said a good number of the KNUT officials have been transferred and this might affect its operations.
“The officials are registered by the registrar of the trade union to serve and if transferred, we will call for elections. How many will we conduct?” he asked.
Even as the teachers ponder on their next move, learning in these schools is at a standstill, with Kimachas saying that this was foreseen.
