TSC calls meeting over promotions

Teachers have called off a planned strike over promotions pending the outcome of a meeting with their employer Wednesday.

This comes as a big reprieve for millions of learners in public schools which re-opened Monday.

Knut wants 53,000 of its members promoted after undergoing further studies. The work boycott was set to start yesterday. “We have been invited to a meeting with the Teachers Service Commission on Wednesday,” Kenya National Union of Teachers secretary-general Wilson Sossion said.

“We were ready to go on strike today (Monday), but TSC secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni has invited us for a comprehensive meeting on Wednesday at 10am. In the meantime, we ask teachers to report to their various stations of duty as the union engages the employer,” Mr Sossion said.

TSC is said to have requested Sh4 billion for the promotions from the Treasury, but was only given Sh600 million.

Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has said the government had no money to effect the promotions.

The PS maintained that the ministry was operating on meagre resources and called for negotiations to resolve the impasse.

“Talks will yield a solution that will be welcome by both teachers and the government. We want the union to understand our situation, but that does not mean that no promotions will be effected,” said Dr Kipsang.

The Kenya National Association of Parents also lauded the teachers’ union for holding their horses, saying that strikes had affected the schools calendar, but that was not an excuse for government not to honour its engagements to teachers.

KNAP secretary-general Musau Ndunda, however, urged the union to push the government into appointing all the members of the TSC to plug the leadership vacuum in the commission.

“Knut should as well use this opportunity to demand a substantive commission that will handle their grievances,” said Mr Ndunda.

President Kenyatta is yet to appoint nine more commissioners to the TSC months after he received names of individuals who had been short-listed.

The Parliamentary Education Committee last year in October rejected the nomination of Kiragu wa Magochi as chairman, and Albert Ekirapa, Jacinta Kapiyo, William Mwita Makubo, James Muthuri Nkoroi and Mwijuma Mwinyipembe as members of the TSC.

That was the second time Prof Magochi was being rejected in Parliament after his nomination was turned down before former President Kibaki left office.

Previous lists of chairpersons and commissioners submitted by the President to Parliament were vetoed by MPs after it emerged that candidates who had topped competitive interviews for the positions were not on the list.

Mr Sossion said TSC had a backlog of issues to deal with due to the shortage of commissioners.

Currently, TSC has only three commissioners — Saadia Kontoma, Cleophas Tirop and Salome Gichura.

This delayed appointments have, according to other stakeholders, affected the running of TSC including promotion of teachers and recruitment of Early Childhood Education teachers.

But Mr Sossion and Knut chairman Mudzo Nzili told journalists in Nairobi that it was up to TSC to look for money for the promotions, saying it was supposed to have been factored in the budget together with salaries.

“It is not our business to know what goes on between the TSC and the Treasury,” Mr Nzili said, adding that 13,000 teachers qualified for promotions in December 2013 alone.

The officials gave TSC a two-week ultimatum to state how the promotions would be done failure to which Knut will convene a National Executive Council meeting to issue a strike notice.

“If TSC fails to act on our demands, we will have no option but to proceed with the strike. Teachers must be rewarded after acquiring higher qualification from certificate to PhD. The schemes of service cannot be renegotiated. Appropriate upgrade should be implemented with effect from date of graduation,” Mr Sossion said.

He added: “We will be going to the Wednesday negotiations only to be told how the government plans to effect the promotions.”

Mr Nzili instructed Knut branch officials to prepare teachers for a strike after two weeks if TSC did not adhere to the union demands.

He said it is the Ministry of Education and TSC that encourages teachers to take private studies and that systematic withdrawal of their right to promotions only provokes them.

“We will not keep quiet and fail to take decisions. Even if it means going to jail we don’t fear as we have been there before. Teachers who take private studies have always been promoted after graduation,” Mr Sossion said.

Promotions, the officials said, are crucial for the country to retain the best teachers for quality education.