It is good news for teachers as their employer Teachers Service Commission (TSC) prepares modalities to implement automatic promotions for all qualified teachers after serving for a specific period of time.
The aim of this arrangement is to forestall the historical problem of teachers stalling in one job group for years. The programme is anticipated to take place after a given period of time in order to motivate teachers.
According to the TSC, teachers should be automatically promoted from their current employment categories to the next.
“The automatic teacher promotion programme is scheduled for a predefined period of time to test its sustainability,” said TSC CEO Dr Nancy Macharia.
Already, TSC has confirmed that they are going to work hard to ensure successful promotions along this dynamic.
And Kenya National Union of Teacher (KNUT) Secretary General (SG) Collins Oyuu supported the good plans, but said it should be sped up.
“This will see them work with motivation and to put in more effort and develop a stronger love for what they do due to the ‘extrinsic motivation’,” said Oyuu.
KNUT said the method should be reviewed if it fails to work during the test trials.
In the event it is successful, this will be an important step towards preventing teacher’s stagnation in the same working category for so long.
Again, a new system of ranking has been developed by the TSC, which places the educators in accordance with their efficiency and amount of time spent instructing. This also includes and is not limited to their level of expertise.
The approach is expected to be of benefit to teachers because it will save their time and ensure their meteoric rise in service.
Both the teacher’s commitment and their efforts at work will now be an important factor to be considered during promotion.
Hardworking teachers will therefore be financially compensated.
Over the years, most teachers have been forced to do a lot of work over an extended period of time. But this sparked discontent among the teaching force as there was no commensurate pay.
On another matter, KNUT declared that it will not accept teachers acting in various positions for more than six months without being paid acting allowances.
“Any teacher assigned a duty to act either as a head teacher or deputy must be paid acting allowance,’’ said Oyuu.
He claimed that TSC was re-assigning teachers duties in schools to act without compensating them for the new roles.
“There is a case in hand where a teacher was assigned duties to act as a head teacher. He did so for three years without pay,’’ he said.
This is in total defiance of the labour laws.
Speaking to the press yesterday, Oyuu threatened to seek legal redress should TSC fail to pay such teachers responsibility allowances.
“Teachers should be promoted with or without the TSC having money to pay them as long as they qualify. They can be paid later,’’ he explained.
Meanwhile, National Assembly’s Education Committee chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly on Tuesday demanded details of claims by KNUT on the number of teachers who have served for more than six months in acting capacity.
The MPs also want the union to give a detailed proposal that would guide the teachers’ promotion.
Knut was also expected to give a detailed financial implication as well as teachers acting as heads of institutions, which they claimed did not benefit from salary hikes.
Oyuu said they were working with TSC to tabulate the data.
By Fredrick Odiero
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