KNUT Reveals Why TSC May Take Longer To Approve Transfers of Heads of Schools
Principals and deputy principals might have to wait for longer for the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to approve their transfer requests.
According to the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), the teachers’ employer has to find schools where there are vacancies for the transfers to go through.
According to Collins Oyuu, the KNUT Secretary General, negotiations with the employer stopped the delocalization policy which in their view was unfair.
“The first batch of applications was made and we know that we will receive more. We want appointments and promotion of principals to be done within the counties they are in and not far,” said Collins Oyuu.
The KNUT Sec-Gen was responding to his Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) counterpart’s statement that teachers who are content with their current positions can retain them.
Misori was speaking last Thursday during a press briefing.
Misori said,” We have three national examinations in waiting so instead of interfering, they can express interest then it can be dealt with in January,” said Misori.
The said teachers had been asked to submit their applications throughout the remaining weeks of the current term.
This was following persistent compelling from Members of Parliament who compelled TSC to review its delocalization policy.
The resolution at the National Assembly was sponsored by one Titus Khamala who is the MP of Lurambi and was approved by the National Assembly on the 3rd of November 2022.
Khamala had drafted the motion calling for an immediate reversal of the current delocalization of teachers’ workstations.
“Review the teacher delocalization policy and delegate it to the zonal level as the recruiting point,” said Khamala.
This means that the Commission will only be allowed to transfer teachers to another school within their zone any time the Commission wished to transfer a teacher.
KUPPET have always opposed the delocalization policy and now can smile at last with the MP having urged the Commission to look at the policy and make sure that it was in line with the rules of the International Labour Organization and Unesco.
According to the Commission, the policy was constituted to give teachers a new place to work and address teacher shortages in some areas.
However, the current regime had promised to do away with the ‘unfair’ policy of moving teachers away from their homes.
Some school administrators who had been delocalized were those who were working in their home counties.
The MPs saw this as disruptive action and implored the Commission to evaluate it with the aim of delegating recruitment authority at the zonal level.
This move will mean that newly hired teachers will be assigned to their home counties while those who had been transferred will be redeployed to their former counties.
Besides, TSC will be expected to start a full assessment of the policy with the participation of teachers in order to ensure it is in line with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNESCO regulations and practices on the management of teachers and deployment.
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