The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will not back down on its decision to transfer over 180 school heads starting January.
In a statement on Thursday, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia said the commission will not renege on the decision because it is a policy.
“It is the policy that we will not be allowing head teachers and principals to serve in their home counties or be in one school for more than nine years,” said Macharia according to the Star.
This has caused uproar within teachers’ unions. The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has threatened to call for a strike on January 2 if TSC fails to reverse the decision.
KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion the actual number of transfers for school heads, both in primary and secondary schools is 557.
“We totally oppose the unilateral decision to transfer 557 principals as we consider the idea ill-conceived and suspect the plotters do not mean well,” said he.
He told the affected teachers to ignore TSC’s directive.
However, TSC through its spokesperson Kihumba Kamotho said the commission has to implement its policy which requires teachers to work outside their native counties.
“The policy has been there, but this is the first time we are institutionalizing it and we have started with the headship and recruits,” he said. “It is good for teachers as it disassociates management from local politics.”
He added this was an agreement reached between the commission and teachers’ unions in 2015.
“This was a negotiated agreement with stakeholders.”
In a list seen by the Star, 181 principals- 31 from national schools, 77 from extra county boys’ and 73 from girls’ schools will be transferred.
In addition, a total of 2,205 teachers will be recruited in January to replace those who have retired or those who may have resigned or those who have been sacked from the service.
Out of these, 1,681 teachers will be hired in primary and 524 in secondary schools.
“All interested candidates should submit their applications to the respective County directors and Boards of management not later than Friday, January 5, 2018,” reads a circular from TSC signed by Macharia.
In January’s recruitment, Central region will get 91 slots, Coast 30, Eastern 80, Nairobi 28, Northeastern 18, Nyanza 77, Rift Valley 128 and Western 70 slots of the post-primary group.
The new recruitment will bridge a teacher to student ratio shortfall that hits a deficit of 87,489 teachers.
Primary schools have a shortfall of 39,913 teachers while 47,576 teachers are required in secondary schools.
Both KUPPET and KNUT have on several occasions maintained that the country needs 100,000 teachers to meet the global standard of teacher-student ratio.