Teachers unions raise alarm over stagnation
Teachers unions raise alarm over stagnation
Teachers unions raise alarm over stagnation
Concerns have been voiced by teachers unions regarding the recent exclusion of several grades from promotion interviews, including Grade D4.The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) claim that although it is now time to advance, D4 teachers have not been given the chance to upgrade.
The omission has prevented Grade D4 teachers from upgrading and created an administrative void, which could cause stagnation in lower grades.
The story underscores the challenges faced by educators in their pursuit of professional growth and the impact of administrative decisions on teacher morale and productivity.
Currently, the teachers’ unions are demanding responsibility and openness in the advancement procedure.In response to the complaints expressed by educators who believe they have been wrongfully denied opportunities for advancements, they have now started gathering data.
According to Misori, “the stories of these teachers highlight the frustration and demoralization that many teachers are going through as they try to advance professionally and get recognition within the system.”
He mentioned how the promotion concerns affected the morale and productivity of the teachers.He claimed that some professors are so frustrated that they would prefer to retire early than endure this kind of humiliation.
Misori voiced concerns about the gaps that still remain in education and asked if long-term stagnation, poor application rates, or a lack of interest in principal roles were factors in this situation.
“There has been existing gaps in schools and one wonders, does it mean people have lost interest of being principals of schools, they are not applying or is because of the long stagnation,” Misori said.
Misori said the issue extends to Grade D5, with teachers in Grade D4 being denied the chance to progress. He said this has caused a ripple effect throughout lower grades and contributed to overall stagnation.
The unions also took issue with the habit of deputies taking on principal duties for prolonged periods of time, which they claimed discouraged and frustrated teachers.
Deputies who have served as principals for longer than six months provide another difficult problem. Many who took on that responsibility, he said, eventually find themselves asked to return to their prior roles as deputies when new principals are appointed.
Former Job Group L, which created two job groups of C3 and C4, was criticized by Misori for contributing to the delay in teachers’ progression.He argued that moving a teacher from C3 to C4 only serves to delay the teacher within the same group, disrupting the traditional progression from Job Group L to M.
“The restructuring of Job Group L was identified as a contributing factor to prolonged stagnation, affecting numerous teachers who have remained in the same job group for more than a decade,” Misori said.
The unions called for urgent measures to address these persistent challenges in the promotion and career advancement of teachers.
KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu expressed dissatisfaction with the merit list published by TSC for teacher promotions.Oyuu questioned the commission’s unwillingness to provide real names against Teachers Service Commission (TSC) numbers published for audit purposes, highlighting the lack of transparency in the criteria used for promotions.
“We are totally disgusted with what has been rolled out. Our attention has been drawn to several complaints from teachers regarding which criteria were used in the interviews to award promotions,” Oyuu stated.
He emphasised the need for transparency in the promotion process. Citing multiple complaints from teachers who felt unfairly left out of the most recent promotion process, the unions stressed the significance of gathering statistics on teachers who have not received promotions that they deserve.
“The union has received numerous complaints from members who deserved to be promoted but were unfairly excluded from the process since the conclusion of the recent promotions by the Teachers Service Commission,” Misori stated.
Data gathering, according to him, is essential since it will guide the union’s strategy.According to Oyuu, this is meant to make the TSC answerable for breaking its own rules.He requested that information on the promotion issue be compiled across branches, and he asked teachers to file written complaints in hard copy to the union office for verification.
Please take notice that teachers applied for various promotions, and some of them were selected after interviews. We are concerned by the volume of complaints we have received about this matter since the results were announced, Oyuu stated.
Concerns concerning the lack of genuine names against TSC numbers and the lack of information regarding the number of promotions in each grade and region are also part of the dissatisfaction with the promotion process.
Oyuu stated, “The purpose of this communication is to request that you use the template attached therein to compile data on the above issue as per zone in your Branch.”
Additionally, gather hard copy written complaints from the same professors and send them to our office for verification, he said.
