More than 17 000 to wait longer for promotion
More than 17 000 to wait longer for promotion
There will be a nationwide wait period increase for thousands of teachers to receive promotions.Only 11,231 of the 28,681 teachers who submitted applications for promotion last year were granted such status, according to a study by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).According to TSC, this implies that 17,450 educators will have to wait until the following promotion cycle in 2025. This is due to the fact that promotions only occur once every three years.
A thorough evaluation of the commission’s operations can be found in the TSC Annual Report 2022/2023.It also highlights significant accomplishments, difficulties, new problems, and suggested solutions from the time frame.The report claims that TSC hired 26,000 interns, 4,000 for elementary schools and 22,000 for junior secondary schools, and hired 15,000 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
The employment aimed to fill shortage arising from the 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school and the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia emphasised the impact of the new teachers in achieving key educational goals.
“The initiative provides a chance for every child to fulfill their potential and rise to the highest level of accomplishment irrespective of social background,” said Dr Macharia.Macharia said the recruitment brought the total number of teachers to 364,258. Further, she said 8,367 teachers were deployed from primary school to JSS.
The TSC boss further said the commission retrained 229,000 primary school teachers and 55,125 teachers for JSS for CBC.“The total number of teachers retooled for the new curriculum represents 82 per cent of the total number of teachers employed by the commission,” she said.“The transition of Competency-Based Curriculum to junior school and the growth in number of basic learning institutions coupled with the above constraints has led to a significant teacher shortage despite government efforts.”
Inadequate staffing and facilities led to low ICT integration in teaching and learning, and employee reports of mental health problems constituted a severe threat to the service.In collaboration with other stakeholders, the commission will keep looking into ways to close any gaps that are found throughout the execution of its mandate, according to chairman Jamleck Muturi.
“In response to emerging trends in education, the commission will seek to review its legislative framework and develop relevant policy frameworks that will ensure smooth implementation of its mandate and provision of quality teaching in all basic public education institutions,” said Dr Muturi.
The report also revealed that 31,779 teachers and administrators (head teachers and deputy head teachers) were transferred. This was an increase from 13,196 transferred in the previous year.
This comes at a time the commission discontinued the delocalization policy adopted in 2018 that saw thousands of tutors moved to areas away from their home counties.
On mental health, the report raised concern over disciplinary issues. “Mental illness has manifested itself in disciplinary cases such as absenteeism, desertion, use of corporal punishment among others,” reads the report.
TSC reported that it had received 1,007 disciplinary cases and had rendered decisions in 1,003 of them thus far. There are now just three cases that are pending.The organization did observe that there were fewer disciplinary cases this year than there were in the prior year—1,128 total. This was linked to the introduction of the Teacher Induction, Mentorship, and Coaching Program, which prepared 2,234 field officers and 11,623 heads of institutions to be master trainers and trainers of trainers.
Additionally, TSC raised awareness of mental health issues among 21,922 workers and offered psycho-social support to 1,382 impacted workers through counseling, evaluation, and referrals.49,185 teachers were enrolled during that time; 23,230 of them held degrees, 2,371 had diplomas, 10,500 had certificates in primary teacher education, and 13,084 had certificates in early childhood development education (ECDE).
