Leaders, top officials are to blame for unequal distribution of teachers
What you need to know:
- Dr Matiang’i recently urged the TSC to evenly distribute teachers in public schools.
- He said the imbalances were giving the false impression of a staffing shortage.
- Teachers' unions have been pushing the TSC to recruit more teachers, putting the shortage at 80,000.
Politicians and government officials have been accused of frustrating efforts by the teachers' employer to distribute teachers evenly across the country. The officials are said to be demanding that their cronies be posted to specific schools.
A report on policy procedures in schools says the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was often put under pressure to honour transfer requests from powerful individuals, creating staffing imbalances throughout the country.
“The interference in transfers has resulted in over-staffing in some urban and highly potential areas as opposed to rural and hardship areas,” says the report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission presented to Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i on Wednesday.
It recommends that the TSC boss set and enforce guidelines on the length of stay at each station for all teachers and in particular the principal and deputy in line with government regulations.
Dr Matiang’i recently urged the TSC to evenly distribute teachers in public schools, saying the imbalances were giving the false impression of a staffing shortage.
“We have enough teachers. The problem lies with deployment and posting. Teachers want to teach in specific areas at the expense of needy stations,” said the Cabinet secretary. Teachers' unions have been pushing the TSC to recruit more teachers, putting the shortage at 80,000.
The EACC report, “Examination into the Systems, Policies, Procedures and Practice of the TSC”, has also recommended a change in the teacher recruitment system, saying that giving preference to those offering voluntary services at local schools was stifling competition since other qualified candidates were excluded.
It calls for the vetting of applicants to sit on District Education Boards and Boards of Management (BOM) to ensure that only qualified individuals were allowed to supervise basic education.
AVENUES FOR ABUSE
On teacher recruitment, the report says: “The BOMs send the names of the three best candidates to the TSC but only attach copies of certificates for the best candidate in the merit list. This means that TSC does not have the benefit of perusing copies of certificates of the other candidates, making it difficult to verify the integrity of the recruitment process and creating avenues for abuse.”
“Most of the stakeholders and agents interviewed proposed that the exercise be taken back to the TSC to bring back sanity in the recruitment exercise,” adds the report.
The report also wants newly recruited teachers to be paid their salaries within the first one month and not three months as is the current state.
It notes that salary delays exposed newly recruited teachers to suffering, forcing them to offer bribes to fast-track the process.
“This process should be as fast as that of stopping a teacher’s salary which is done within a day. The Commission should take disciplinary action against head teachers and secretarial staff who fail to act promptly on such issues,” recommends the report.
The report also expresses concerns about over-commitment of salaries by teachers despite the existence of guidelines prohibiting the deduction of more than two thirds of the salaries. It says that some teachers ended up earning as little as Sh100 due to loans.
“This affects the performance of teachers since it is unlikely that they would concentrate on teaching. It also contributes to desertion whereby some teachers concentrate on other businesses during working hours while some sub-contract unauthorised persons to teach on their behalf,” adds the report.