Teachers acting as school administrators in Arid and Semi Arid Land (ASAL) and hard to staff areas will be promoted on affirmative action.
Among those to be confirmed are senior teachers and masters, deputy headteachers and school heads in acting capacity.
However the teachers must have served in their current position for at least three years to be considered for promotion.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) through circular number 14/2021 said promotions of teachers shall be in accordance with the Career Progression Guidelines in force.
However, the TSC said teachers serving in ASAL and hard to staff areas and are holding administrative positions in an acting capacity shall be promoted progressively until they obtain grades commensurate to their respective positions.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general, Collins Oyuu, congratulated this move after signing of Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 2021 – 2025 with TSC.
Oyuu clarified that what TSC has done is to list the hard to staff areas and maintained that they are putting administrators on acting capacity regardless of their grade, who will continue to serve in those administrative positions in the hard to staff areas until they attain their respective grades for confirmation.
“Those areas are hardship but hard to staff, meaning, even positions of Headtechers and Deputies nobody is ready to be there, and those who are there are not even qualified for those positions in terms of what we have in the CBA,” said Oyuu.
“They are promoted to act in those positions because those areas are hard to staff and nobody is willing to go there,” he added.
Oyuu added that what TSC is looking at is the interest an individual teacher has in line with serving under acting capacity of administration in those areas prior to ones grade until when the teacher attains the full grade of administrator for full confirmations of the position the teacher was acting before.
Sources say the promotions and employment of more teachers will happen after the July budget.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has allocated an additional Sh14.9 billion to the TSC, whose budget has risen to Sh296.6 billion from Sh281.7 billion this year.
TSC will receive an extra Sh15 billion for the 2022 – 2023 financial year, with the additional money aimed to cater for a pay rise and hiring of new teachers.
The National Treasury has also allocated an extra Sh70.8 billion to ministries for recurrent expenditure, including the annual pay rise.
Already a total of 1,963 teachers were promoted following interviews conducted in November by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
The Commission interviewed 1,376 teachers holding positions of Heads and Deputy Heads of institutions in ASAL and Hard to Staff areas who were seeking promotions.
Shortlisted teachers were interviewed to fill 1,043 vacancies ranging from Grade C2 (TSC Scale 7 Senior Teacher 2) to Grade D5 (TSC Scale 15 Chief Principal).
The teachers employer conducted promotion interviews for 2,419 shortlisted teachers between 1st to 12th November 2021 at the Regional and County offices.
The teachers promoted will fill up vacancies ranging from Grade C2-TSC Scale 7 (Senior Teacher II) to Grade D5 TSC Scale 15 (Chief Principal).
Under this category, some 1,040 teachers will be moved up the scales, according to TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia.
Another 923 teachers to be promoted are those holding positions of heads and deputy heads in ASAL areas.
Dr Macharia said the promotion of teachers in Asal was a deliberate affirmative action to grow them.
In the just signed Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with trade unions, the parties agreed that all teachers holding administrative positions in ASAL areas will be promoted.
The new CBA also phased out the schemes of service for teachers and replaced them with the Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs.)
TSC communication says that all the promotions are based on Career Progression Guidelines for teachers.
The interviews were done between November 1 to 12. The details are contained in a brief on teachers’ promotions.
At least 53 teachers have been selected to move to the position of Chief Principal.
Another 40 will be promoted to Senior Principal positions and 49 will move up to take principal slots.
For deputy principals I, some 33 teachers passed the interviews and will take up the slots.
Another 15 will move up to take deputy principal II slots
Some 16 teachers have been selected for promotion to the senior lecturer I position as 18 will be promoted to senior lecturer II.
TSC has also selected some 34 teachers to be promoted to curriculum support officer I as nine will be promoted to curriculum support officer II. Some 63 teachers are set to rise up to senior head teacher positions.
The communication also shows that some 233 teachers will take up deputy headteacher II positions.
Another 233 will be posted to the senior headteacher I positions and a similar number selected to assume senior teacher II slots.
And for the ASAL promotions, 19 will move up to take principal slots as 12 take up deputy principal II positions.
Only two have been selected to take up senior master II and deputy principal III, as 46 others are set to assume new roles as senior master III (job group C5)
Those selected to move up to senior master IV are 165 teachers with 16 others set to take up slots under the senior master II and deputy principal III.
Others set for promotions are 24 teachers moving up to secondary teacher I position and 111 for deputy head teacher I/head teacher (job group (C5).
Others are 263 teachers who will rise to take up senior teacher II slots and 122 others who will move up to senior teacher II.
In the last one year, the commission has promoted more than 100,000 teachers in line with the 2017-21 collective bargaining agreement that expired on June 30.
Among them are 15,407 teachers who were interviewed in December 2020 and February this year.
The other 99,078 were elevated under the common cadre established, while 712 teachers and institutional administrators in 10 Asal regions rose on the basis of affirmative action, the commission says.
A total of 115,197 classroom teachers, senior teachers, deputy headteachers, headteachers, curriculum developers, deputy principals and principals have been promoted in a year.
“The collective bargaining agreement granted all cadres of teachers a common promotion after serving for three years in the entry grades,” reads Teacher’s Image, a magazine produced by the commission.
P1 teachers at job group B5 were promoted to job group C1, diploma certificate holders in job group C1 were promoted to job group C2 while degree certificate holders in job group C2 were promoted to job C3.
“The promotions are a departure from the past where P1 teachers entered and retired from service in the same grade,” the TSC said.
“This is an indication of the commission’s commitment to cater for the professional growth of teachers by a clear career path for the worker.”
According to the career progression guidelines, a teacher must have served in their current job group for three years.
