Govt plans new employer for technical teachers

By Azael Masese

Plans to have a different employer for teachers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institutions are almost complete, with the Government describing it a necessary reform agenda.
Principal Secretary, State Department for Vocational and Technical Training Dr. Kevit Desai said once in place, it will accommodate the unique needs of the sector.
Currently, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is the sole employer of 312,306 teachers serving at TTIs, Teachers Training Colleges, secondary schools and primary schools.
However, an estimated 3,000 teachers posted to various TVET institutions consider their affairs under the TSC put on the back burner hence the need for change of employer.
A Scheme of Service for Technical Teachers is considered inferior in the manner it is operationalized by their current employer, and tutors serving in the TVET institutions have been demanding for a divorce with TSC.
For instance, a TTI teacher can stagnate in one job group for long while those in secondary and primary schools can move faster from one group to the next.
The schemes of service establishes the structures that indicate the roles and responsibilities, remuneration, promotion systems, grading of teachers and other issues that touch on the teachers.
Dr. Desai stated that the education and training reforms taking place are competence based and seek to promote direct link with the productive sector.
“Within the structures at the level of teachers, this is a paradigm shift that will require them to play a more distinctive role to promote hands on training,” he said.
Subsequently, the teachers require closer understanding of the productive sector and would require hiring individuals from the private sector hence the need for a different employer.
“This is a specialised area and requires specific understanding, a multi sectoral approach, and diversity,” he added.
There will be a different approach compared to the current set up and a lot of pedagogical skills will have to be built to transform creativity and technical skills.
Besides, it will look at how to promote values within the systems and structures hence in need of a well grounded teacher in providing pedagogical skills based on competence based education and training.
To achieve this, they will consider getting teachers from the industry based on their experience thus the need to have an employer to look into these perspectives in their schemes of work.
Director of Technical Training Meshack Opwora said the Government has already decided to have the different employer largely informed by TIVET Act 2013.
He said that if passed into law, TTI boards and Council Members will be responsible on issues that touch on recruitment, remuneration, promotion and other schemes of work for TTI teachers.
“We are going to address the gaps that exist in the current system because the boards will manage them very well”, he said.
Speaking to Education News during a meeting at the Kenya Teacher Technical College, he said the body will motivate principals by rewarding their academic qualifications and experience appropriately.
“Technical education and training has been identified as an enabler in the country’s long term development projects and we must get the teachers and principals on board,” he said.
Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutions (KATTI) Chairperson, Glory Mutungi said they will consider a new employer if career progression is faster and promises better tidings ahead for teachers.
According to the TIVET Act, 2013, the Cabinet Secretary shall, in consultation with the Board, establish principal organs to govern the respective public institutions.
It describes these as the boards of Governors for vocational training centers, boards of Governors for technical and vocational colleges, Councils for National Polytechnics and Councils for teacher Trainer Colleges.
The organs will be in charge in of recruiting and appointing trainers from among qualified professionals and practising trades persons in relevant sectors of industry.
They will also be responsible in determining suitable terms and conditions of service for support staff, trainers and instructors and remunerating the staff of the institutions, in consultation with the Authority.
Currently, it is possible for a principal of a TTI managing more than 5,000 students to be on a lower Job Group compared to a secondary school principal managing less than 1,000 students.
A secondary school principal can get to the highest Job Group R, which has been elongated to T while some technical training institutes principals, can be on job group N.
Besides, it has taken a while since the schemes of service for teachers in TVET institutions were revised hence there can be a situation where one stagnates in one job group for long.
A tutor who recently retired from the Nairobi Technical Training Institute stated that he stayed in one job group for about 14 years.
“I was only promoted to another job group three months to my retirement and this is a clear indicator of the challenges we go through in our upward mobility,” he said.
The tutor said those with diplomas and years of experience do not count but only degrees, even without any practical knowledge.
“With the TSC in place, there is no brighter future for TTI teachers and if it happens, it is rare and those who get the promotions do so through questionable means,” he said.
This is complicated as there has been no commissioner at the TSC who once served in the technical training institutes.
All the nine TSC commissioners started as secondary school teachers rising through the ranks to occupy senior positions as principals or senior directors in the Ministry of Education or TSC.
None is said to have started working at a technical training institute, rising through the ranks to occupy senior positions either in the ministry or TSC and eventually become a commissioner.
While teachers in primary and secondary schools have professional bodies to agitate for better terms of service, those in TTIs do not belong to any.
Besides, when teachers are clamoring for better terms of service such as promotions, hardship allowance and better pay, through their unions, those from the TTIs are never heard anywhere.
One of the reasons for this is that a good number of the TTI principals were not graduates and the employer never anticipated that they would one day occupy senior positions.
If approved, this means that the budgetary allocation towards TSC will reduce and subsequently its clout watered down.
During the 2017/2018 financial year, TSC was the largest beneficiary receiving about Sh201.9 billion out of the Sh2.62 trillion budget estimates.