Hiring of education chiefs faulted

Teachers want the recruitment of county education directors stopped and names of shortlisted candidates publicised.

They accused the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) of recruiting the officials secretly, saying the hiring process was a public matter and should be carried out openly to avoid corruption.

“The on-going recruitment of county directors of education should be halted and names of shortlisted candidates made public,” said Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general David Okuta on Tuesday.

“This process should not be done in a manner that is likely to raise issues of integrity,” Mr Okuta said.

In a departure from tradition where the TSC advertises candidates to be considered for interviews, the commission has been inviting selected individuals for interviews by telephone and text messages.

It is due to this method and failure to make public the list of the shortlisted candidates that the teachers say the process has not been transparent.

“This exercise should be cancelled and done afresh and interview schedules provided just like other government agencies have been doing,” Mr Okuta said.

TSC spokesperson Nkatha Murungi, however, said they were facing a cash crunch and could not afford to pay for advertisements to make the shortlisted candidates public.

“Most candidates who have been interviewed received text messages and interviews are still going on,” Ms Murungi said. “However, the results of the interviews shall be advertised in the media,” she added.

The hiring of the directors to oversee key functions of TSC such as recruitment, deployment, discipline and termination of service in the 47 counties started in November last year.

“Given that these positions have been created to facilitate devolution of services to the counties as envisaged in the Constitution, the expectation is that they should be filled in a transparent, fair and competitive process,” said a school principal, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.