Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nancy Njeri Macharia has defended the commission over claims that Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) have never been promoted ever since they joined the service.
Responding to a question by Tharaka MP George Murugara dated March 21, 2023, Dr. Macharia stated that the promotional vacancies of CSOs are filled competitively in compliance with the requirements of Article 232 of the Constitution.
The lawmaker wanted to know why CSOs have never been promoted since the time of engagement and first deployment despite the existence of CPG of 2019.
“It is not true that CSOs have never been promoted since the date of their respective deployments. To the contrary, since 2019 the commission has promoted 263 CSOs,” said Dr. Macharia.
She noted that the promotions are guided by the Career Progression Guidelines for CSOs (2019), which provide a clear career path for the officers and qualifications for promotion from one grade to another.
With a view to ensuring structured and systematic career progression, growth and professional development of all CSOs, Dr. Macharia added that the guidelines outline the experience, and academic and professional requirements necessary for appointment and sets the process for career advancement at each job grade.
Apart from the minimum qualifications required for promotion, she noted that other factors like existence of vacancy in the approved establishment, merit and ability as reflected in the work performance, and availability of budgetary provisions approved by the National Assembly are brought into play.
Murugara further inquired why the CSOs are managed by the TSC in the same manner as teachers yet they offer technical support, and the plans the commission has to promote, facilitate and equip them.
Dr. Macharia clarified that the CSOs are not graded in the lower cadre of the secretariat staff, reiterating that the management of CSOs is inherently separate from that of teachers.
She distinguished CSOs as subject to Performance Contracting while classroom teachers are on Appraisal System.
“It is not true that CSOs are graded in the lower cadre of secretariat staff. The correct position is that CSOs have a distinct grading structure separate from the teaching staff and the secretariat staff. The same is informed by the nature of their work as recommended by the job evaluation results of 2016,” reiterated Dr. Macharia.
According to TSC, in 1963, Teachers Advisory Centres (TACs) were established to provide in-service courses to enhance teacher competence and professionalism, whereby the commission was providing support through deployment of highly competent teachers to the centres as TAC Tutors.
With the promulgation of a new Constitution in 2010, it became necessary for the commission to restructure its operations, which included deployment of county and sub-county directors, and consequently phased out TAC Tutors and re-designated them as CSOs to the zonal levels.
Dr. Macharia explained further that in 2016, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and TSC undertook a job evaluation for the teaching service with a view to establishing the relative worth of every job in the teaching sector.
“The job evaluation recommended categorization of CSOs in the teaching service with a distinct career progression. The categorization was informed by factors such as the inherent nature of their job, fiscal sustainability, and productivity, among other factors,” said Dr. Macharia.
“In 2019, the commission developed Career Progression Guidelines for CSOs with a grading structure of 4 grades ranging from TSC scale 10 to TSC Scale 13,” she added.
In the 2023/2024 budget, TSC sought Ksh2 billion for promotion of teachers, with Dr. Macharia stating that the commission will be able to promote a number of CSOs who have stagnated at Grade C5 and D1.
In the said budget, Dr. Macharia noted that the commission has sought funds to improve its infrastructural development, including office equipment whereby if funded, some of the resources will be used to equip and facilitate the work of CSOs.
According to the recommendations of the Budget and Appropriations Committee contained in a report signed by the committee chairperson Ndindi Nyoro, which was approved by Parliament on March 15, 2023, the legislators allocated an additional funding to TSC of Ksh2.2 billion under recurrent expenditure.
They observed that it was part of unfunded priorities in the 2023 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) meant for promotion of teachers.
The TSC boss had initially told the legislators when she appeared before the Parliamentary Education Committee on February 14, 2023 that if TSC gets Ksh2 billion in every FY, the issue of stagnation will be resolved.
The commission had requested for an estimate budget of Ksh2.17 billion to promote a total of 12,634 teachers in the 2023/2024 FY, which starts July 1, 2023.
The BAC in their report recommended a total budget of Ksh322.6 billion for TSC in the 2023/2024 FY to cater for teacher resource management, governance and standards, general administration, and planning and support services.
The approved parliamentary budget estimates entail a total of Ksh321.5 billion as recurrent expenditure and Ksh1.13 billion as capital expenditure.
In terms of professional development, TSC notes that through various programmes, it has conducted trainings to capacity-build CSOs so as to improve their skills and competencies.
The CSOs have been trained on Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD), and Secondary School-Based Teacher Support (SSBTS) programme.
By Roy Hezron
Get more stories from our website: Education News
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
