TSC to Promote Primary Head Teachers to Junior Secondary Principals, Says Machogu
Ezekiel Machogu, Cabinet Secretary for Education, announced that the process of promoting teachers who have remained at the same grade level has begun.
Given that the junior secondary schools are housed in their institutions, Machogu stated that primary school head teachers will be elevated to the principal level.
“All P1 teachers heading primary schools will be promoted from grade C3 and above as principals of Junior Secondary Schools,” the minister added.
Addressing the Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) conference in Mombasa on Wednesday, commemorating their 20th anniversary, the CS emphasized that the majority of primary school head teachers are graduates deserving of promotion.
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He praised head teachers with PhDs in diverse disciplines of education and asked the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to promote them because they had demonstrated their competence to undertake other tasks.
Machogu made the remarks after Kepsha Chairman Johnson Nzioka displayed the head teachers who had been in charge of various schools for many years.
“I want officials in my Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission to make sure these teachers with PhD are given jobs such as quality assurance, which the government has been looking for,” he said in a statement.
Belio Kipsang, the principal secretary of education, escorted the CS as he issued a warning to high school principals about raising tuition.
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TSC chairman Jamleck Muturi and Konza University Vice Chancellor Elijah Omwenga also attended the ceremony.
Collins Oyuu, Secretary General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), praised the CS’s promotion request, calling it a major victory for primary head teachers.
Oyuu praised the Minister of Education for recognizing that the head teachers of these schools are highly qualified, with the majority of them holding degrees.
He emphasized that it’s a misconception to think that primary school head teachers lack degrees, highlighting that there are even PhD holders serving as school principals across the country.
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He concurred with Education Committee members who commended primary school teachers for their role in preventing cheating during national examinations, distinguishing them from certain high school colleagues who had been implicated in such misconduct.
In order to prevent cheating in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), Oyuu noted that primary school head teachers had played a significant role.
He commended the administration for returning the teachers to their home areas and proposed that they should not relocate all newly promoted headteachers to other counties.
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TSC to Promote Primary Head Teachers to Junior Secondary Principals, Says Machogu