The Labor Law Court has stopped the implementation of the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) that was set to commence this month.
In the Friday ruling Friday, the judges said that the programme intended is not valid because there is no TSC regulation on TPD.
“The teacher professional development will not be implemented because they fall short of the professional development programs prescribed by TSC,” read part of the judgment.
It has now been revealed that the disputed TPD is not issued through regulation on parliamentary safeguards,” said Brain Ongaya, a Labour Court Judge.
As expected, TSC did not respond positively to the ruling with the Commission’s attorney Timon Oyucho vowing to launch an appeal. He claimed that mistakes were made in the labour court ruling.
“The decision is under consideration. We are looking at areas where the judge made fundamental mistakes in law and facts. We will move the matter to court soon,” said Oyucho.
Garissa Branch KNUT Secretary Abdirizak Hussein responded to the good news saying that the ruling was a step in the right direction owing to the fact that the Commission never consulted anybody.
“Where did they involve the participation of the public? The ruling of the court shows how the government is unprepared in implementing the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC),” said Hussein.
“The TPD was issued without any advice from any party meaning that teachers were left unprepared,” he added.
The Commission had threatened to punish teachers who could have missed out on the TPD training. With this in mind, the ruling could not have come at a more opportune time.
“Teachers can now relax and smile because the program was too expensive and they were to do it at their own expense,” said Hussein.
The Commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Nancy Macharia had said that the TPD was going to benefit teachers by updating their skills and making them relevant in the teaching profession. However, it has been widely felt among teachers that this is not the case.
Some teachers also viewed the court’s ruling as a double-edged sword saying that earlier teachers had been told to continue with the TPD program while the case was being heard but now the TPD itself has been halted.
“This news will surely make my December holidays awesome,” said one teacher who chose to be anonymous.
Halting of the TPD is not the only dent to TSC’s operations with education consultant Mr Joseph Karanja having sued the Commission, KUPPET, KNUT, Kenyatta University, Mount Kenya University, Riara University and the Kenya Education management institute already sued in court over the TPD program.