TSC promotes 115,000 teachers, registers 42,000

By Roy Hezron  

A new report reveals the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has moved to promote as well as register new teachers in a delicate balancing act considering the huge number of qualified and unemployed teachers.

At the same time, there are thousands who are lining up for promotion amid controversy and confusion over the criteria used to upgrade teachers.

In the programme, a total of 115,110 teachers have been promoted as per the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG), while 42,795 new ones have been registered in the 2020/2021 Financial Year (FY).

According to TSC’s Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements 2020/2021 tabled in the National Assembly on May 19, 2022, out of the total number of promoted teachers, 99,078 were upgraded under Common Cadre Establishment.

15,407 were promoted through competitive selection while 625 institutional administrators in ten ASAL counties were promoted on affirmative action.

The data from TSC Staffing Directorate as per the 2021 report shows that of those competitively selected for promotion, 6,785 were female while 8,622 were male.

The cadres on this category were 1,096 Deputy Principal II (489 female and 607 male); 39 for Senior Lecturer I (24 female and 15 male); 1,590 Deputy Principal III (713 female and 877 male), 209 Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) who include 56 female and 153 male, and 2,111 Head teachers (639 female and 1,472 male).

Others are 6,680 Senior Master IV (2,889 female and 3,791 male); 1,765 Deputy Head teacher II (1,211 female and 554 male); 45 Senior Lecturer IV (19 female and 26 male); 134 Senior Master IV (43 female and 91 male); 723 Deputy Head teacher II (347 female and 376 male); and 100 Secondary Teacher I (25 female and 75 male).

The 625 teachers promoted on affirmative action comprised 102 female and 523 male teachers, and they include 27 Deputy Principal II at Grade D2, 17 Senior Master II and Deputy Principal III at grade D1, 74 Deputy Head teacher I and Head teacher at grade C5, and only 1 female Senior Master III at grade C5.

Others include 36 Deputy Head teacher II at grade C4, 248 Senior Master IV at grade C4, 38 Secondary Teacher I at grade C3, 53 Senior Teacher I at grade C3, only 1 female Secondary Teacher II at grade C2, 37 Senior Teacher II at grade C2, and 93 Primary Teacher I at grade C1.

The report shows further that during the period under review, a total of 94,176 teachers were promoted under the Common Cadre Establishment. (See table below for details).

 Recruitment, posting, transfers and deployment

The Commission also recruited a total of 25,124 teachers in 2021, who include 5,000 additional teachers in secondary schools to address the 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary schools. There were 2,933 male and 2,067 female teachers.

A further 8,124  replacement teachers were recruited (3,020 male and 3,573 female) in primary and 953 male and 578 female teachers at post primary institutions.

12,000 intern teachers were hired by the Commission; 4,852 male and 5,741 female in primary and 8,526 male and 6,005 female in post-primary institutions.

To ensure equitable distribution of teachers and deployment of qualified and competent administrators in public learning institutions, the Commission undertook posting, transfers and deployment of various teachers to different parts of the country during the 2020/2021 FY.

According to the report, a total of 108 teachers were posted after study leave and disciplinary procedures, being 44 in primary and 64 in post-primary institutions. 6,381 teachers were transferred both at regional and headquarters levels, comprising of 4,388 in primary and 1,993 in post-primary institutions.

Further, a total of 350 institutional administrators were transferred; 31 in primary and 319 in post-primary institutions.

CBC Training

The Commission also trained a total of 102,000 teachers on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in 2020/2021 as an alternative mode of curriculum implementation after it adopted remote learning methodology which was developed and disseminated to all teachers.

Regarding capacity building on Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), the Commission states in the report that it had trained a total of 131,275 (79,582 male and 51,693 female) Master Trainers, Trainer of Trainers, comprising CSOs and CBC champions, and teachers on CBC.

They include 996 CSOs for regular schools, 366 CSOs for Special Needs Education (SNE) institutions, 2,431 CBC Champions for regular institutions and 341 SNE CBC Champions, in addition to 22,638 Head teachers in public primary and 1,032 Head teachers for public SNE schools, plus 2,899 Head teachers for private institutions.

Others include 44,867 teachers in public primary schools and 6,918 in private primary, 3,561 teachers for SNE, and 1,582 CBC Mathematics Champions and 43,644 CBC Mathematics teachers.

There were a total of 47 ICT Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) Master Trainers (one from each county), and 52,966 champion teachers from public primary and secondary institutions. They were also trained on the reviewed performance management tools, with the Commission training all its regional, county and sub-county directors and CSOs over the same.

Promotion of Teachers under Common Cadre per Grade, County and Gender

SOURCE: TSC HRM&D Directorate-IPPD (2021)