KUPPET Gives TSC 7 Day Altimatum To Provide Teachers’ Promotion Formula.
Post-primary school teachers are requesting a change in the promotion formula.
According to the Kenya Union of Post-Primary School Teachers, adequate promotion of teachers will contribute significantly to a smooth transition to junior secondary school.
Per the Kuppet, the Teachers Service Commission was meant to expand promotion spaces for post-primary teachers for a seamless transition of learners.
Kuppet Secretary General Akelo Misori claimed that most teachers now teaching in secondary schools have stagnated in the same job group for years and demanded the TSC provide data on the extent of this problem.
By advertising positions for promotions in December 2022, Misori stated that the TSC has finally addressed the challenge of stagnation among teachers.“
However, the adverts were for limited jobs, namely those of responsibility, meaning that thousands of teachers would still be left out of the promotions.
Misori asked that all senior teachers, deputy principals, and principals who have served in various positions receive automatic promotions.
"We demand promotion of all teachers in Job Group C2 to C3 be automatic after three years in service. We demand that no cadre should be left in promotion advertisements for as long as it is the case currently,” he added.
According to the official, thousands of secondary school teachers should have been the first to be considered for promotion to junior secondary schools.
According to him, diploma and graduate-level teachers working in primary schools were given priority over these teachers.
According to him, the smooth transition of Grade 7 learners will benefit from promoting high school teachers.
Such promotions, according to Misori, have mutually beneficial effects and could be the impetus for teachers to approach the demanding Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) with a high level of involvement and a positive attitude.
He noted that many Job Group D3 principals serving in Sub-County schools have stagnated in their ranks for many years and were not considered for promotion.
“According to career progression guidelines, Senior Master in secondary schools is a substantive deployment. We noted that most schools don’t have substantive Senior Masters. Therefore the majority are internally appointed by schools where they have acted for a long, which is against the labour laws.”
Given the many teachers who have stagnated in this category, Misori claimed that the 1,330 teachers set for promotion need to be increased.
Further, most promotions are to replace individuals quitting the service but not necessarily boost them.
Kuppet has given the Teachers Service Commission a week to disclose criteria for promoting a certain cadre of teachers.
The Education Committee of the National Assembly asked TSC Secretary Nancy Macharia to explain why it took so long for the tutors to be promoted last month.
Despite government provision, the MPs threatened to surcharge TSC over its failure to promote over 15,000 teachers and engage 5,000 interns.
The MPs, led by committee chairman Julius Melly, said that the Commission’s errors had cost the country human capital.
“What will you do with these people who have already retired without getting their promotions? Who is going to pay the teachers?” said Melly.
“You will soon retire, and I’m hoping you will not suffer like you have made these teachers suffer. This is a serious issue which we are not going to sweep under the carpet.”
Macharia noted that the promotion and hiring of teachers are influenced by government funding and the shortened school calendar, which made it impossible for the Commission to carry out the process.
“We will begin the process of promoting teachers to different grades as soon as "Immediately after administering the exams we shall embark on the process of promoting teachers to different grades,” Macharia said.
TSC gave in to pressure and announced 14,742 opportunities for teachers who had stagnated in the same job category to be promoted this month.
Primary teachers will take the majority of the 13,713 promotion slots in the schools, with 3,210 going to secondary schools and 10,507 going to primary schools.
Eighteen counties in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands will receive 1,021 teachers.
At the same time, the rest of the country will share 13,717 teachers, including primary and secondary principals, deputy principals, senior masters, and head teachers.
According to President William Ruto, the government would deploy graduate teachers who are now teaching in primary schools to teach in the JS schools.
TSC Head of Legal Affairs Calvin Anyuor said the Commission would identify beneficial teachers and deploy them to teach Grade Seven learners.
“We are currently mapping those graduate teachers, and shortly, we will get the numbers right,” Anyuor said.
Misori, however, said that this occurred in violation of the TSC’s regulations, which outline how teachers should be promoted.
As a result of this, the union calls for data on all teachers who have not received their deserved promotions to hold the Commission accountable for failing to follow its regulations in promoting teachers,“ he added.
KUPPET Gives TSC 7 Day Altimatum To Provide Teachers’ Promotion Formula.
