TSC deregisters 11 teachers over misconduct

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has banned 11 teachers from working over misconduct, bringing to 122 the number of tutors who have been kicked out of the teaching service this year.

The teachers, whose names are set to be published in the KenyaGazette this week, will not be allowed to teach in any school in the country.

The reasons given for their deregistration range from desertion of duty and having sexual relationships with students to insubordination and negligence.

NOTICE

“It is notified for general information that pursuant to Sections 30 (4) and (5), 23 (2) of the Act: Where the name of a teacher is removed from the register, such a person shall not be reinstated except by direction of the commission,” TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said in a notice.

According to the Act, one can only teach after being registered. Institutions that employ unregistered teachers are guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not less than Sh100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.

In 2016, 22 teachers who had sex with students were banned from the profession and another 126 were deregistered in 2015 over a variety of offences.

On Thursday, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed raised concerns about what she said were increasing cases of teenage pregnancies.

Speaking on the last day of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations, Ms Mohamed said she had received a report on nine girls who gave birth during this exam period but added that they were yet to get a final report.

“We are concerned that a high number of candidates became mothers during the three days of KCPE. If this is happening all year round, then the country could be facing a crisis,” said the CS.

REPORT

In July this year, the Education ministry released a report that exposed shocking details on the rates of teenage pregnancies, child defilement and drug abuse in schools countrywide.

The report which was compiled after nationwide consultations, led by the Education ministry, indicated that teenage pregnancies had hit an all-time high — with Narok County the most affected at more than 60 per cent.

The report of the Education Quality Dialogue dated July 2018 notes that drug abuse was also widespread in some schools.

The sexual harassment report is supported by another study by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) which raised a red flag about sexual harassment of learners aged 13 to 17 by teachers in schools in the country in 2016.

Ms Mohamed asked parents to instil good discipline in their children through guidance and counselling to ensure such cases are reversed.