By Peter Otuoro
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Deputy Staffing Officer Peter Kega has instructed all TSC Sub County Directors to immediately transfer all teachers who have overstayed in one working station for over ten years.
While addressing 306 TSC Sub County Directors during a five-day workshop held at Egerton University, Kega told Sub County Directors to ensure no teacher who have overstay in a workstation for ten years remain there instead he or she should be transferred to another school to continue to serve the commission in other new schools.
“Ensure that all teachers who have overstayed in a work station for over ten years are transferred”, ordered Kega.
He also warned Secondary school Principals and head teachers not to defy the instruction as he says that the directive is a normal transfer that is meant to enhance service delivery to the learners of Kenya.
“You should not allow School Principals and Head teachers to defend any teacher who has overstayed in the school for 10 years even if he produces good results during examinations because other schools also need his or her service to improve performance,” said Kega.
He told Sub County Directors that they have powers to do that and nobody including the Principals can block them from exercising their duties of transferring teachers who have overstayed in one job station.
“You have powers to transfer teachers and we at the TSC headquarters will support you because that is one of your key responsibilities to ensure that teachers teach in any school”, explained Kega.
He said the teacher employer has confirmed that when a teacher or institutional head stays in one workstation for over ten years he or she becomes troublesome to the administration because they think that they cannot be transferred to any other work station.
“All teachers can work in any part of Kenya and there is no need for staying in one school without being transferred to another”, said Kega.
He also told all sub county Directors that when a teacher is transferred to a certain school, he or she should report to the new working station within 14 days.
“Ensure that when any teacher is transferred to a certain school, he should report to a new working station within 14 days ,and all sub county directors should follow-up to ensure the teachers who have been transferred within their sub counties report to their new work stations on time” , Kega said.
Kega also warned Sub County directors not to give any teacher a letter of acting in a headship position without confirmation from the commission.
He said that many Sub county directors have a tendency of giving a deputy Principal or Deputy Head teacher a letter to act as Principal or head teacher without confirmation from the commission.
“You have no authority to give a deputy head of an institution a letter of acting as the head of an institution, majority of you have been doing that and it is against our staffing regulations, the commission is the only authority that should give a letter to the deputy head of institution to act as head of institution in case of any vacancy”, warned the officer.
He added that many sub county directors have been putting the commission into problems because they hurriedly give Deputy head a letter to act as head of institution without investigating whether he qualifies to hold that position or not.
Kega said many deputy principals and deputy head teachers who are given letters by Sub county directors to act as principal of head teacher are not so comfortable when the commission sends a principal or head teacher in the schools in which they are acting.
He instructed all Sub county directors to ensure the headship position is offered by the commission’s Directorate of Staffing at the headquarters in Nairobi.
Speaking about the teachers recruitment exercise, Kega said only qualified teachers should be recruited to teach in primary and secondary schools and all recruitment exercises should be done on merit.
He said that the recruitment panel should not base their judgment on a teachers’ age or year of graduation but only qualified teachers should be recruited.
“A secondary school teacher with a first class honours degree should be selected to teach in our secondary schools while for a primary school teacher, a Diploma holder whose certificate shows that he performed well in all course units in the Teacher Training College is eligible to be selected to teach in Primary school”, said Kega.
He warned the recruitment selection panel against selecting teachers whose academic certificates indicate that they have failed in the course units that they undertake in the universities and Teachers Training Colleges.
He said any Kenyan is qualified to be recruited as a teacher provided that he has been registered by TSC and his or her academic certificates proved that they qualified provided that he has not reached the retirement age.
“You should not discriminate Kenyans by their age, any Kenyan who is 55 years old is eligible to be recruited by TSC and posted to teach in any school provided that his certificates show s that he have qualified to teach and can make our learners pass examinations”, he elaborated.
The deputy staffing officer also urged Sub country directors to ensure marginalised communities are seriously considered during recruitment exercise.
“Marginalised communities like Ogiek, Segwer and others should be included in the recruitment list”, said Kega.
He also told Sub County directors to ensure people living with disabilities are given at least five percent slots in every recruitment exercise as per the 2010 Kenya Constitutional requirement.
“You should ensure that People living with disabilities are considered and given their five percent slot in every recruitment exercise because it is their right and as TSC Staffing Directorate we must adhere to the 2010 Kenya Constitutional requirement by implementing it to the letter”, Kega told the sub county directors.
He also advised them to ensure that the teachers who are recruited in any county are equally distributed to all sub counties.
He give an example that if a county recruited 40 teachers and it has five sub counties, each Sub County should equally get eight teachers.
Kega also told Sub County directors to ensure they advise the Secondary School Board of Management on Commission policy and regulations on teachers recruitment exercise so that they only recruit qualified teachers in all secondary schools based on the regulation of TSC.
“Do not allow School Board of Management to make decisions on their own during teachers recruitment exercise instead they must conduct the exercise under the regulations and procedures of TSC to ensure that every Kenya get an opportunity to appear before the recruiting panel and only qualified and eligible teachers are recommended for employment by TSC”, said Kega.
Kega also instructed Sub county Directors to ensure that all academic documents of newly recruited teachers are processed well to enable them get their salaries as early as possible.
