Teachers Service Commission, (TSC) seem to be in panic mode after it discovered that all funds in its 2024/25 budget have not been fully absorbed. This follows a spirited attempt by its directorates to create activities that is seeing its officers visit counties in droves in the name of auditing field services.
Education News has learnt that for past one month, county offices in various regions haven’t seen heightened activities occasioned by surprise visits by officers from various directorates. After having an entry meeting with the field officers, the TSC officials embark on what they always refer to as ‘routine’ monitoring of field operations.
After last week’s workshop at Egerton university that targeted CSOs, accounts and ICT officers, the commission has this week dispatched a team from Teacher Professional Management (TPM) which is out to monitor performance contracting, Teacher Performance and Appraisal Development (Tpad), and Remote learning methodologies.
This meeting followed closely another convened in Naivasha where Commissioners, regional directors, county directors, officers attached to TIMEC programme spent the entire week in posh hotels in the much-loved conference discussing what they called ‘Transformative leadership-The TSC perspective’. But insiders say it was another excuse to chop the unspent money.
Understandably, another bloated delegation was deployed to Mombasa to attend the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) which was held between June 23-28 this year. A good number of TSC staff were seen mingling around with the principals without delivering any speeches or doing anything much. But at the end of the day, they will draw handsome allowances besides wining and dining in big hotels in the coastal city.
Under the Government regulations, Ministries and other state agencies are required to remit all monies not utilized within the current Financial Year to the National Treasury. Most organizations try to do last minute spending to avoid a scenario where they have to forfeit the unused cash.
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It is also established that, TSC is in the process of overhauling Tpad after it emerged this new developments in the education sector are rendering it obsolete.
Many observers in the teaching sector view TSC beehive of activities at counties for the last Month of the last financial year as a pure attempt to empty its accounts for justification of expenditure. TSC seem to have become a late comer in expedition of its activities.
The hurriedly done workshops and field activities has been blamed for failure to address critical issues paralyzing services at school and field offices.
“There’s a big discrepancy in the number of teachers in payroll, Tmis and Tpad. The commission is in an awkward position to decide on which data to rely on,” said a senior TSC official.
By Mark Otieno Jonyo
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