By George Otieno
Secondary schools Deputy Principals have been advised to respect their bosses and provide effective leadership in schools if they’re eyeing promotions.
Kirinyaga TSC Deputy County Director Mr. Kige Joseph advised the deputies to envisage themselves to become Principals and to speak the same language with their bosses for them to quickly progress to higher ranks.
Speaking during Kirinyaga Annual Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) regional conference, Kige warned the deputies against creating disharmony in schools, especially when principals aren’t around.
“You must ensure you have constructive communication between you, the teachers and the Principals,” he advised.
He urged the deputies to provide leadership at all times arguing that they shouldn’t wait to become principals to be leaders.
He urged them to ensure all departments are functioning well through holding regular meetings and always keeping staff meeting minutes for future reference.
“Deputies are the backbone of all school activities hence they should possess skills and abilities to create an effective environment for supervision. You need to come up with both short and long-term supervision strategies for the sustainability and growth of the school,” he observed.
The deputy director urged the deputies to address the challenges facing teachers like lack of motivation and proper exposure and orientation that makes teachers feel misplaced, teachers deviating from their roles and duties and the tendency of teachers overcommitting their salaries to financial situations making them end up in difficult financial circumstances.
Kirinyaga County TSC Director Dr. Samuel Marigat noted that every deputy principal has the opportunity to grow professionally and that only those ready to learn and with the desire to move up the ranks will break away from the crowd early.
He urged deputies to effectively carry out their roles in school and to ensure they not only know school rules and regulations but also other laws and policies governing education and the constitution.
“While carrying out your duties as per the rules and regulations of schools, it’s equally important to know what other laws of the country say about schools. Pay special attention to what the constitution says about learners and your roles as leaders,” said Dr. Marigat.
He encouraged them to build their brands so that they are known for something else other than teaching and being assistants to principals.
“As a leader, you must be known both in class and outside class. Get engaged in something that you will be remembered for. Publish a book. Be a master in your field. Get into co-curriculum activities,” he added.
The regional KESSHA conferences also brought to light the fact that some schools in the country lack deputy principals.
Nandi County TSC Director Regina Opondo confirmed the same and added that TSC is working round the clock to ensure the problem is solved.
A good number of acting deputy head teachers and deputy principals as well as senior teachers and masters in public primary and secondary schools have been suffering in silent after stagnating in one job group for years.
Some have never been shortlisted even after making applications for various positions while those who get shortlisted, never get feedback.
The deputies expressed disappointment that at times, teachers who haven’t served as deputies are promoted to either become Head teachers or Principals and deployed to head sub county, county, extra-county or national schools at the expense of a group of experienced teachers.
Deputy Principals are estimated to be about 11,000, with most of them falling under Job Group D1 and D2. Schools with 6 to 12 streams per class and an enrollment of between 1080 to 2160 students have two deputy principals: one responsible for Academics and the other Administration.
Sub County and all Day Secondary Schools are manned by Deputy Principal III and IV T- Scale 10 and 1, county schools are manned by Deputy Principal II T-Scale 12 while National and Extra County Schools are manned by Deputy Principal I T- Scale 13.
One needs to serve for a minimum period of three (3) years to rise from one level to the other under the TSC Career Progression Guidelines (CPG).
Additional reporting by Roy Hezron and Peter Otuoro
