By Education News Team
Over 30,000 teachers who acquired higher academic and professional qualification from universities can breathe a sigh of relief after the Ministry of Labour ordered the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to address all pending promotions.
The Education News has further established that the Labour Ministry has directed TSC to address complaints raised by teachers following the haphazard manner in which the Commission implemented the Delocalisation of Teachers policy in January 2018.
In the same vein, the ministry has ordered the teachers’ employer to amicably resolve the long-standing dispute between the teachers and the Commission over the introduction of Performance Contracting (PC) for Head teachers and Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) for classroom teachers.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Labour has elected Ms Hellen Maneno, a Senior Labour Officer to act as the Chief Conciliator in the industrial dispute pitting Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) against TSC.
Maneno has been bestowed with authority to ensure that TSC addresses the pending teacher promotions dating back to 2014 after over 30,000 teachers in the Public Service acquired higher and relevant academic qualifications from both local and foreign institutions of higher learning.
In a letter (ML&SP/LD/IR/18/1/2017) dated March 13th, 2018 addressed to both KNUT and TSC, The chief conciliator has renewed the push for teacher promotion which has been overlooked for years.
The conciliator is now calling for fresh talks between TSC and KNUT with a view of finding a lasting solution on how the affected teachers could be promoted under the newly introduced grades in the Public Service.
The will subsequently end the trade dispute that is threatening to snowball into industrial unrest within the teaching force.
The letter seen by Education News states in part:“This is in reference to a letter Ref. No. Knut/Lab/52/3/2018 dated February 15th, 2018 from KNUT whereby they reported the existence of a dispute between yourselves.
“I understand the issues in dispute to be: (i) Failure by TSC to recognise the new and relevant higher academic qualifications for teachers since 2014; (ii) Implementation of the policy of Delocalization of Teachers within the Teaching Service which members of the union have raised reservation, and (iii) Rolling out Performance Contracting for Head of institutions, and Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development without agreementwith the union.”
Prior to the new orders from the Labour Ministry compelling the Commission to address the promotions and other industrial disputes, TSC through a circular (CS/TSC/6B/VOL.X/87) had invited KNUT to find a solution to the pending promotions and to discuss the conciliator’s report on the demarcation of membership to teacher trade unions, only to cancel the same through yet another circular (CS/TSC/6B/VOL.X/93).
The circulars were signed by TSC Chief Executive, Dr Nancy Macharia.
The specific issues TSC had raised with the Ministry of Labour for discussion during the rescheduled meeting are only two items, namely promotion of teachers based on higher qualifications; and the conciliator’s report on demarcation of membership to teacher trade unions.
On the other hand, KNUT in its memorandum insists on the scrapping of Delocalisation of Teachers policy introduced in January; TSC should recognize new and relevant higher academic qualifications acquired by teachers since 2014, and the PC/TPAD should be suspended forthwith as the teacher appraisal falls under the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards in the Ministry of Education Science and Technology.
TSC failure to address teacher promotion can be traced back to 2014 when the Commission suspended teacher upgrading and awarding of incremental credits due to liquidity challenges.
The Commission failed to implement the recommendations of TSC/KNUT Joint Technical Committee largely due to financial challenges. The suspension affected teachers in the Common cadre, Competitive grades and those who had acquired higher qualifications, besides awarding of incremental credits.
The ban was, however, a temporary measure as TSC awaited for funds from the National Treasury.
Since then, teachers especially those who had acquired higher qualifications have been waiting for upgrading.
The Joint Technical Committee which was co-chaired by Wycliffe Omucheyi (now Acting National Chairman of KNUT) and Josephine Maundu (Director of Human Resource Management and Development – TSC) in its recommendations had observed that teacher promotion had been overlooked for years.
The report noted: “Teachers are some of the most overworked but receive inadequate salaries, an issue that was not fully addressed by Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) during the job evaluation exercise to determine the worth of the job.”
It was further noted that there are many cases of teachers committing suicide or sinking into depression or other stress-related conditions that TSC needs to urgently address.
It was also agreed that the Commission should review the criteria used to determine those who would receive hardship allowance, saying many teachers working under harsh environment had been side-lined.
Despite government ordering TSC to implement promotion of over 30,000 teachers, TSC has pulled out of arbitration talks with KNUT citing biasness. In a complaint to Labour CS, Ukur Yattan, TSC said due to its fidelity to the law, it shall not participate in the process which is tainted with irregularities.
