At least four thousand and thirty five teachers names have been forwarded by Counties to TSC headquarters for them to be considered for delocalization when schools close for third term in July 2021.
This is after the compiling and sending of teachers data to the Commission by Counties ended successfully.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) through Dorothy Jonyo, Deputy Director Staffing, had directed its regional staff to collect and forward data of school heads who have stayed in one station for over nine years.
Most of those targeted are school heads and their deputies serving in their home counties. TSC will also transfer teachers who have served in the same station for a long period.
In a February 26 memo to all Regional Directors, TSC asked for details of primary school headteachers and principals of secondary schools who have exited the teaching service.
The employer had also requested data of school heads who are presently working from home due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the secondary schools’ section, regional directors were required to capture the home county of the principals complete with details of their current station.
These details included the size of the school, the sponsor of the institution, and the category of the school and enrolment data.
The mean score registered by the schools for the last three years between 2017 and 2019 were also to be captured as well as the institution’s host county.
The principal’s present designation, job group, and gender were also captured.
County Schools are headed by principals falling under Grade D3. There are about 1, 031 county schools with about 145,000 learners.
Principals of sub-county schools fall under grade D2. There are about 7,000 sub-county schools with about 650,000 students.
Principals of extra county schools fall under grade D4. There are about 531 sub-county schools with approximately 130,000 students.
For primary schools, TSC wanted the age of the headteacher captured.
The teacher’s home county, designation, current station, and the host county of the school details were also required.
However teachers with medical conditions as well as those who are about to retire will not be affected in the upcoming delocalization exercise.
In July wave, the employer is targeting school administrators who have served longer in the same station and those overdue for promotion in order to ensure a fair transition while continuing the delocalization program.
Delocalization process for school heads began early 2018 and which has resulted in head teachers and principals of primary and secondary schools being moved from schools in their home counties or regions to other counties and regions.
According to Teachers Service Commission (TSC) this will help curb corruption in schools, reduce incidences of student indiscipline and bring about a more national outlook in the management of leaning institutions.
In March TSC dismissed claims that there were plans for a mass transfer of teachers countrywide after the national exams were completed.
“Our attention has been drawn to a story in the Standard of today, 9th March 2021, under the headline TSC sets pace for Fresh round of mass transfers. The TSC wishes to refute the claims made in the story that the Commission plans to conduct a mass transfer of teachers countrywide,” said Rita Wahome, the Director of Staffing.
TSC further stated that its Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia announced ahead of the reopening of schools in January 2021 that the commission would not conduct mass transfer of teachers this year owing to the challenges arising from COVID- 19.
However on the ground things seems to be different as July delocalization of teachers is gaining momentum.
According to TSC, transfers are being undertaken for four reasons.
One is that some headteachers who retired created vacancies that had to be filled, another is that some deputies had to be promoted.
Other reasons include the need to strengthen management in some schools and a requirement to move teachers who have served for long in one school.
Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion said the union will oppose plan to delocalize its teachers.
Sossion claimed the delocalisation policy was sneaked in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report which he said TSC is using to institute the schools’ management shake-up.
In a letter to the BBI secretariat, Sossion said: “The policy was not proposed by Kenyans but was unjustly sneaked into the report to drive TSC’s agenda of delocalisation of teachers.”
He said if TSC executes massive delocalization of teachers then it shall be met with collective industrial action to safeguard families and the teaching profession.
The BBI report proposed that the Ministry of Education adopts policy guidelines that discourage local recruitment and staffing of teachers, depending on the circumstances.
“To strengthen social ties and promote unity among all the communities, stakeholders recommended that the Ministry of Education reviews the curricula to introduce and integrate the teaching of national unity, character, and cohesion to learners during their formative or early years,” says the report.
Even as unions rejected the delocalisation and transfers, TSC has always insisted that the transfers were in line with the provisions of the code of regulations for teachers and Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) signed between TSC and their unions.
“The Commission finds it an act of dishonesty and deceit on the part of the unions’ leadership to continue making public pronouncements calculated at misleading the same teachers the leaders are supposed to guide,” Dr Macharia said.
The mass transfers and the delocalisation exercise has been a bone of contention between TSC and Knut.
In 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Ministry of Education to review the TSC policy on mass transfers.
“I am aware that delocalisation has created some unforeseen challenges that have affected some teachers,” said Uhuru.
Defending the transfers, Dr Macharia said transfers and delocalisation were negotiated and signed by the two teachers’ unions and documented in the CBA.