TEACHERS STRIKE

MPs have given the Teacher Service Commission, TSC, till the end of January 2023 to effect transfers of teachers who were forced out of their homes through the controversial policy on delocalization.

While appearing before MPs yesterday, TSC board chair Jamleck Muturi and head of legal Calvin Anyuor were ordered to ensure the lawmakers’ decision on the delocalization of teachers is implemented

The National Assembly’s Education committee gave TSC a deadline of January 31, 2023, to complete the process of returning teachers who were delocalized to their home

“I direct that you table before this committee the status report on the transfers by January 15 and the teachers who are seeking to move be transferred by January 31, 2023,” Julius Melly, who chairs the committee told the TSC.

The move came after it emerged that about 14,733 teachers as of November last year had requested transfers from their current workstations following the abolishment of the policy on delocalization of teachers

“We do not want stories, just tell us when you are going to do this, please table a report here for us to see. This policy was abolished and we cannot go back to it because we know that some of you use it to punish teachers,” said Melly.

TSC in 2017 affected the transfers where newly recruited teachers were posted outside their county of employment. But in 2018, the TSC extended the policy to school head teachers and principals triggering an uproar and standoff between teachers’ unions and their employers.

In 2018, TSC extended the policy to school head teachers and principals triggering an uproar and standoff between teachers’ unions and their employers. The policy makes it difficult for delocalized teachers to be transferred back home.

According to TSC, the policy requires a delocalized teacher to have completed at least three years in the North Eastern region and at least five years in other regions. Mr. Melly told the TSC director for Legal Cavin Anyuor and commission chairperson Jamleck Muturi to heed the directive of the committee.

He said Parliament passed a motion last month stopping the delocalization of teachers by the commission. Mr. Muturi had defended the delocalization arguing it is contained in the TSC policy document on transfers of teachers

As TSC, we will address issues of delocalization and take care of teachers’ requests. But we must also discharge our constitutional mandate to staff schools across the country,” Mr. Muturi said. Mr. Melly dismissed the TSC plea arguing that the policy the TSC used to transfer teachers from the home counties is obsolete.

SOURCE: SOKODIRECTORY