The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced a nationwide crackdown on teachers who are not registered with the Commission but are involved in teaching in both public and private schools.
The exercise targets several teachers, who have been kicked out of the service for misconduct including having sexual relations with students, and who appear to be back in class through the back door.
SUPPORT
To fully undertake the exercise, the Commission has sought the support of the Ministry of Education in order to flash out unregistered teachers after it emerged that some schools have hired Form Four leavers as teachers.
Most of informal schools especially those in slums rely on the service of untrained teachers.
TSC regulations provide that no person shall engage in the teaching service unless such person is registered as a teacher.
A report tabled in Parliament in March by TSC indicated that 1,228 teachers had been sacked in the last seven years because of having sex with learners.
Some 1,077 teachers in secondary and primary schools were kicked out between 2010 and 2017, while another 151 were dismissed between last year and this year, according to the Commission.
SACKED
It has emerged that most of the sacked teachers are young and can only earn a living by working in private schools which do not demand to see their registration numbers.
TSC chief executive officer Nancy Macharia says during the April training of teachers on the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), it emerged that some individuals engaged in teaching, especially in private schools were not registered teachers.
In a letter dated May 2 to Education Principal Secretary Bellio Kipsang, Ms Macharia says in some cases, Form Four leavers have been assigned to teach.
“In order to ensure provision of quality education in all schools, there is need for a collaborative approach in the enforcement of registration requirement for all teachers. In this regard, the Commission requests the Ministry of Education to encourage its field officers to be conducting joint programmes with TSC county and sub-county directors in order to ensure registration requirements are fully enforced,” reads the letter also dated May 2.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS
The Commission has now directed its officers to ensure that all teachers engaged to teach in both public and private schools are registered in line with the requirements of the TSC Act.
“No teacher who has been deregistered, for whatever reason, should be assigned to teach or conduct training in co-curricular activities in schools,” reads the letter to TSC county directors.
Ms Macharia has also directed principals and head teachers to ensure that the names of all teachers, their TSC numbers and teaching subjects at all times are prominently displayed in their offices and staffrooms.
“Compliance with registration requirements for private schools should be continuously monitored, through physical checks at least twice every term. TSC county directors should submit to regional directors, details of any schools that may not have complied for necessary action,” adds the CEO.
COMPLIANCE
She has directed regional directors to file termly reports to director (quality assurance) on the level of compliance and any action taken in cases of non-compliance.
Some schools have also turned to Form Four leavers as teachers in order to cut costs of running their institutions.
According to the Act, one can only teach after being registered. Institutions that employ unregistered teachers are guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not less than Sh100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.
Sections 30 (4) and (5), 23 (2) of the Act provides that where the name of a teacher is removed from the register, such a person shall not be reinstated except by direction of the commission.
TEENAGE PREGNANCIES
In July last year, the Education ministry released a report that exposed details on the rates of teenage pregnancies, child defilement and drug abuse in schools countrywide.
The report indicated that teenage pregnancies had hit an all-time high — with Narok County leading with more than 60 per cent of the reported cases countrywide.
The sexual harassment report is supported by another study by the Unesco, which raised a red flag about sexual harassment of learners aged 13 to 17 by teachers in 2016.