By Douglas Dindi
Thousands of deputy heads and senior teachers at public schools are in for a rude shock as Teachers Service Commission (TSC) moved to extend terms for retiring principals.
This drastic action effectively means that thousands of these teachers who were within breathing distance in the succession chain of school management will either have to wait longer for their chance or forfeit their hopes altogether especially for those who are nearing their retirement.
Several County Directors and other field officers who spoke to Education News in confidence as they are not authorized to speak to the press said the extension option affects head teachers of primary schools, Principals of secondary schools and teachers’ colleges.
It is understood that the offer is popular with heads of national and extra county schools and this group are said to have gone for the option in droves. Those manning county institutions, however, are reported to be content with straight retirement as scheduled.
Education News has further learnt that the decision to retire or extend contract is optional for the concerned school heads and those interested to remain in office were required to express their interest in writing and channel their letters through the offices of the Regional Directors.
The Commission conducted interviews for Deputy Heads at T-Scale D4 in February this year and were set to be promoted to Grade D5 and posted as Principals, but this will have to change as some of the people they were to succeed will remain in office for another one and a half years to two in some cases.
Out of the interviews conducted, 2,111 deputy head teachers qualified to be promoted to Grade C5 and were set to be appointed as Principals and head teachers.
TSC records show that 12,500 school heads in both primary and secondary schools were due to retire by June 30th this year. Another 25,000 teachers will retire by June 30, 2022 after turning the requisite 60 years.
This July, the Commission quietly asked retiring school heads who wished to stay on in office to apply for contract extension, a directive which affected school and college heads that were set for retirement from service from June 30, 2021 onwards.
TSC is justifying the decision to retain the retiring heads on the grounds that they need to tap into their experience in the implementation of the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and also as compensation for the lost learning period during the long school closure arising from the outbreak of Covid-19.
Learning in all learning institutions was disrupted for most of last year and the early months of 2021 occasioning a crash academic calendar across schools, colleges and universities.
In 2019, the Parliamentary Committee on Education termed extension of term of retiring principals as illegal and demanded the revocation of the contracts. The Department of Technical Education and Vocational Training came under a hail of criticism for offering extra years to administrators who had attained their retirement age without the approval of Parliament. They said such decisions was unfair and affected the morale of those waiting to succeed them.
Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) in its report of November last year signalled that half of 25,000 teachers on the TSC retirement queue had one year left to retire.
Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association (KEPSHA) National Chairman, Mr Johnson Nzioka who is also the Headteacher of Donholm Primary School in Nairobi confirmed to Education News that the terms of the heads were extended, but the decision was optional and no one was compelled to do so.
“Yes but this applies only to those willing to take the offer. They were given an opportunity to apply for extension. I have no problem with that,” said Nzioka.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Collins Oyuu, however, denied reports that the union had agreed to the contract extension for its members and urged those retiring to be cautious with entering into fresh agreements.
“We have asked the commission for a meeting to discuss this issue. We expect the meeting not later than mid-September. We have a raft of issues to discuss with them and this is one among them,” Oyuu said on phone.
His Deputy Hesbon Otieno added that as long as people whose contract is being extended are comfortable and it’s not being loaded on them, then they’ve no reason to complain.
“It’s an individual decision when your contract is being extended you’re requested so you either accept or refuse, if they accept it means that they’re comfortable,” stated Otieno.
Kakamega County Knut Secretary Achadius Liyayi claims the contracts could be a cover-up of a messed up pension fund at TSC, accusing the commission of causing stagnation in the service.
“Someone who has clocked 60 is tired. What guidance can he offer under the Competency Based Curricular (CBC)? If you keep recycling the old hands, when do you expect the graduate teachers to get employed?” he posed.
Efforts to reach the Commission’s Chairperson, Dr. Jamleck Muturi and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Nancy Macharia for their side of the story on this matter were not successful since neither of them picked our calls nor replied to Short Test Messages (SMSs) sent to them by the time of going to press.
(Additional reporting by Roy Hezron).
