Teachers Service Commission (TSC) says it requires Sh2.2 billion to promote about 14,000 tutors.
TSC Secretary, Nancy Macharia yesterday said the commission has received several requests from various stakeholders on the need to promote teachers who have stagnated in the same job group over the years as well as those who have attained higher qualifications.
She however admitted that the Commission has not been in a position to promote these teachers because they has not received promotion funds since the implementation of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Macharia regretted that this has in turn tainted the Commission’s image.
“To address the stagnation outcry, the Commission requires Sh2.2 billion to carry out the promotion of teachers in different job cadres. Please note that this issue has been presented to the Committee severally and the Commission is yet to receive any funding,” said Macharia.
She made the remarks when she made a presentation before the education committee on consideration of 2023 budget policy statement.
Last month, TSC advertised promotions for over 14,000 senior teachers in line with Career Progression Guidelines (CPG).
TSC seeks to promote 13,713 principals, deputy principals, senior masters, secondary teachers, head teachers and deputy head teachers in secondary and primary schools.
The highest vacancies in this category are Deputy Head Teacher II for regular primary schools, which has 7,720 posts.
TSC will also promote 2,733 head teachers for regular primary schools, 1,330 Secondary teacher I, 725 Deputy Principal II, 602 principals for regular schools, 224 Deputy Principal III for secondary schools and some 208 Senior Master II.
There were also 73 vacancies for regular secondary school Chief Principals, 32 Head teachers for Special Needs Education (SNE), 22 Deputy Head teachers for SNE schools, 17 posts for Deputy Principal I, eight principals for SNE and four Chief Principals for SNE schools.
TSC advertised 1,020 vacancies for teachers deployed as principals, deputy principals, teachers and deputy head teachers in Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASAL) and hard-to-staff counties.
Some of the counties in this category are Baringo to cover Baringo North, Tiaty East, Tiaty West and Marigat sub-counties, Garissa, Homabay covering Suba and Mbita, Kajiado for Mashuuru, Loitoktok and Kajiado West sub counties, Kilifi’s Magarini Ganze areas.
Others are Isiolo, Kitui, Kwale, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Narok, Samburu, Taita Taveta, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir and West Pokot.
In this category, the highest vacancies are for Senior Teacher II at 284 followed by Senior Teacher I at 223, Deputy Head teacher II at 195, some 90 Senior Master IV among other ranks.
“Applicants for vacancies in ASAL and hard-to-staff counties will be required to upload the letter of deployment to the current responsibility during application. Candidates who will be successful in the interviews will be required to present valid Chapter Six documents before they are considered for appointment,” TSC said.
For the four Chief Principal vacancies, applicants will be required to have served as Senior Principal at T- Scale 14 for a minimum period of three years, have satisfactory rating in the performance appraisal and performance contracting process, meet the requirements of Chapter Six of the Constitution and meet any other requirement deemed necessary by the Commission.
In December, there was an uproar from Members of the National Assembly committee seeking an explanation from TSC on delayed promotions.
Also yesterday, Macharia told the committee that the Commission has received feedback on Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programme with regards to the cost of the programme which was set at Sh6,000.
She explained that TPD are formal trainings that registered teachers are required by law to undertake in order to continuously improve their pedagogical skills, management skills and learner outcomes.
“The Commission presented a requirement of Sh2.1 billion to fund the program but it is yet to be allocated the same,” said Macharia.
She said the Commission has been allocated Sh322.7 billion for the Financial Year 2023/2024 out of which Sh321.6 billion will go towards recurrent expenditure and Sh1.2 billion for development expenditure.