The effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic meant the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was always going to hire more teachers as either replacements or new additions. Now that recruitment is ongoing, old problems are still occurring.
Some teachers applying for the available slots have highlighted problems they are facing or problems they think will hinder their success in their applications.
One issue that has been doing the round online is corruption. Some teachers complaining about online platforms is ‘soliciting of money to secure an employment’. This means that those who do not offer cash to corrupt sub-county officials for example will miss out. The reason most of the teachers are applying for the posts is that they have suffered for a long time without employment. Some of them are employed on BOM terms and the promise of the government to give a small amount to help cushion them has gone back and forth for months without anything being deposited in their accounts at the time of writing this article.
What pains some of the teachers is that other teachers who may not necessarily get the posts based on the provided guidelines might pip others to the post by paying the individuals responsible for recruitment.
TSC Head of Corporate Affairs, Beatrice Wababu has now moved to assure applicants that “TSC does not charge money to employ teachers”. Besides, she implored teachers who notice any attempts to solicit money to secure employment to report to the nearest police station or via phone numbers 0722208552 or 0777208552.
“We wish to remind teachers and the general public that TSC does not charge money to employ teachers. The Commission has not appointed anybody to collect money on its behalf through personal mobile phone money services or bank accounts. We advise teachers and the general public to report any attempts at soliciting money to secure employment to phone numbers 0722208552 or 0777208552 or the nearest police station,” said the TSC Head of Corporate Affairs on a statement posted online on Facebook.
“TSC charges money for registration of teachers and replacement of registration certificates and this is paid to official TSC Bank Accounts. The details of these charges and Bank Accounts are available on the TSC website,” she added.
Some teachers suggested TSC should just do the recruitment whole process online instead of face-to-face interviews. This is because they believe there is a caveat of a possibility that some officials may accept money to give other teachers an advantage over others who may not have anything.
Everything will stay as it was though and teachers now have to trust the system to do them justice. They have to hope that some of the officials in charge of the process will follow the provided guidelines and respect the Kenyan constitution in the process by employing teachers on merit.