TSC Assures Teachers Of Continued Support

The Teacher Service Commission (TSC) has assured teachers that they will continue to support during this COVID-19 pandemic where schools have reopened amid a number of challenges.

TSC sent its message to teaches countrywide encouraging them to keep going despite all the problems they are undergoing.

Below is the Message from TSC:

WE WILL CONTINUE SUPPORTING YOU

As we come to the end of the first week of the new school term, we trust the back to school hustles are now over.

The Commission salutes you for your sacrifice to tackle your work as we settle down the new year’s learning and teaching activities.

We appreciate your continued observance of COVID-19 safety protocols and the enforcing of the same on your learners as you shape their destiny. We will continue supporting you in this noble calling.

Please do not relent in this patriotic duty. We encourage you to put all your efforts into the tasks ahead of us as we make up for a lost time.

Indeed, the environmentalist and Noble Peace Prize Winner Wangari Mathai reminds us to do our best in her famous quote:

“No matter who or where we are, or what our capabilities, we are called to do the best we can.”

Beatrice Wababu

Head of Corporate Communications

Teachers in schools are still coming to terms with dealing with wih COVID-19 in their schools. TSC has since embarked on measures to ensure the safety of teachers employed by the Commission.

Aware of the medical challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic, TSC has negotiated with the commission’s medical insurance partner (AON-Minet), to cover all teachers who may suffer from COVID-19.

In a letter released on January 6, 2021, the teacher’s employer said that they are working together with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to provide psycho-social support to teachers that require the services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

TSC has 337, 432 teachers in its workforce in 30,000 public primary and secondary schools.

The commission’s data as of January 6, 2021, showed cases of COVID-19 at 345. this is around 0.10 percent of the population.

At the moment of writing this article, deceased cases are 36 while recoveries are 209, nine are hospitalized while those undergoing home-based care are 92.

Some of the challenges teachers have faced in schools are with ensuring learners follow the COVID-19 regulations of social distancing, wearing of face-masks, and sanitizing and washing of hands regularly.

For instance, a child in a school in a public primary school in Mombasa has requested a friend to assist him with his face-mask so that he could go to his teachers after being called. This was in an effort to avoid the teacher’s anger after misplacing his masks.

Some of the masks are also not of the right mask and teachers have had to resize them.

When playing, learners have also not been social distancing. Physically disabled learners who enroll in public schools have also faced the challenge of not having protective equipment.

James Ngugi Macharia, a headteacher at St. Patricks Primary school which is an institution for the mentally challenged in Thika, called for more caution among learners to ensure they are safe from infection with COVID-19.