Secondary schools countrywide are staring at a management limbo as hundreds of principals proceed to retirement this year.
Worse still, many of these senior schools lack substantive deputy principals or Acting deputy principals to immediately take over the retiring principals once they are struck off the Teachers Service Commission TSC payroll.
The situation is expected to be severe in the hardship counties where some of the promoted deputy principals are declining to move to the new stations with others lamenting of delayed promotions.
In a spectre that could dampen operations in the senior schools and lead to interference with the syllabus under the new CBE system, the problem is compounded with the TSC facing the challenge of balancing the staffing in all the 47 counties with mounting pressure from politicians seeking preference for their people.
The current trend of movement of teachers indicate a spiralling overstaffing in learning institutions in urban and other municipalities compared to those in rural areas as more teachers continue to seek transfers out of the disadvantaged counties.
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The TSC has also been accused of not motivating teachers by promoting them to the positions of deputy principals after working in one station for more than five years as stated in the progression career guidelines.
Those most frustrated are the A Level teachers whose progression has been stagnated to the extent of them competition for promotions with the students they once taught in lower classes.
For example, Trans Nzoia County is set to lose as more than 40 principals who don’t have deputy principals in place with Kwanza Sub-county with 9, Trans Nzoia East with 15, Trans Nzoia West 9 and Endebess with 8. Both Trans Nzoia East and Endebess are zoned as hardship areas. The local communities are also fighting to have control of the schools in their midst.
And for staffing, the high-cost Kitale School was found to be having more teachers than the subjects they are fancied to tackle, sparking outcry from the local Kuppet branch leadership led by the chairman Paul Weyama. The teachers, mostly from West Pokot county, had sought to move to the school because of its strategic site within Kitale town.
For Bungoma County, matters are different where teachers with C5 grades are promoted to the Acting deputy principal levels while in Trans Nzoia their counterparts with D1 are not considered, a situation that calls for Affirmative Action in the latter county for continuity in the the schools where the retiring principals.
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A week ago, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula lametend of what he called as imbalance of teachers in secondary schools in Trans Nzoia County and called on the TSC to find out a solution to the the challenge citing Kolongolo Girls Secondary School which he said was reeling under the shortage of 28 teachers.
Earlier, the KUPPET branch leadership had also raised alarm over the lack of deputy principals in most of the local schools and wondered who would take over the running of the learning institutions once the principals proceed for retirement.
Teachers are wondering why the TSC with all the information, budget and data on the teaching fraternity can fail to ensure equity in schools countrywide. They are also wondering why the TSC office employees are guaranteed of allowances and fail to extend the same treatment to teachers as workers under the commission.
By Abisai Amugune
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