By Education News Team
Panic, anxiety and state of uncertainty has gripped the Teaching fraternity after the release of a new policy requiring Principals, Head teachers and other teachers holding administrative posts to be vetted before being allowed to hold their respective positions.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has rolled out a policy requiring County Directors to ensure that school managers under their jurisdiction meet the requirements set out in Chapter Six of the Constitution (2010) before being allowed to continue serving in their respective positions.
In the same spirit, the Commission has given school managers a minimum of 30 days within which to submit back to TSC “compliance documents” failure to which, they lose their posts.
In an Internal Memo (TSC/DTM/CDS/107/91) dated April 16th, 2018 addressed to County Directors, the Acting Director – Teacher Management, Mrs Mary Rotich requests the County bosses to vet all institutional administrators – Principals, Deputy Principals, Head teachers, Deputy Head teachers, Registrars, Deans, Senior Masters, Senior Mistresses and Senior teachers.
States Rotich in a memo copied to TSC Chief ExecutiveNancy Macharia: “Attached here with, please find a Compliance Letter detailing various documents to be submitted to the Commission as an indicator that the individual administrator has complied with the requirement of Chapter Six.
“Issue the Compliance Letter to all those deployed to administrative positions either at TSC Headquarters or at the County; give them a minimum of 30 days within which the individual is required to submit back to the TSC County Director the required documents; submit the said documentations to the office of the Senior Deputy Director – Teacher Management Post Primary (SDD TMPP) for Post Primary institutions and Senior Deputy Director – Teacher Managementfor Primary schools respectively.
“More importantly, submit a report on Institutional Administrators who fail to get clearance for appropriate decision-making by the Commission.”
In a circular to Institutional Administrators, a Senior Deputy Director – Teacher Management Post Primary institutions, Abdirizak Farah on behalf of TSC Chief Executive, Nancy Macharia outlines the conditions Institutional Administrator have to meet to be retained in their respective positions.
States Farah: “Your deployment as Institutional Administrators bestows on you a high calling as a Public Officer, vesting in you public trust to be exercised in a manner that is consistent with the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya.
“Administrators have to demonstrate respect for all people; the public trust vested in you must be exercised in a manner that brings honour to the nation and dignity to the people. More so, must be exercised in a manner that promotes public trust, confidence and integrity to your office.”
The Senior Deputy Director said Institutional Administrators would be required to submit to his office Certificate of Good Conduct; Clearance Certificate from Kenya Revenue Authority, Clearance Certificate from Higher Education Loans Board (for graduate teachers), a self-declaration form from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, and more importantly, Clearance Certificate from a Credit Reference Bureau.
With the look of things, and going by the roll out of the new policy by TSC, teachers in the Public Service would now be subjected to vetting similar to that the Police have to undergone.
Teachers like other Public Servants will continue declaring their income every two years, and when they exit service.
The new policy of vetting has caused anxiety among teachers, union officials, Kenya Primary School Heads Association (KEPSHA) and Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) members.
It will be remembered that thousands of teachers recruited in August 2014 had to wait longer to get appointment letters as the Commission concluded their vetting. However, at that time, the vetting conducted by TSC was not related to Chapter Six of the Constitution (2010).
The then Secretary/Chief Executive Secretary of the Commission, Gabriel Legoiboni said: “We have to go through the documents to verify that the candidates who were recruited met the required standards and guidelines before we can give them posting letters.”
Under the revised TSC Code of Regulations for Teachers, all newly registered teachers will be issued with a Teaching Certificate which shall be valid for five years from the date of issue.
Where the name of a person registered as a teacher is removed from the register, the Teaching Certificate of the teacher shall be invalid.
Meanwhile, a teacher who fails to take out a TeachingCertificate under Section 35 (2) (b) of TSC Act (2012) shall have his/her Certificate of Registration withdrawn until he/she obtains the Teaching Certificate.
