Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General (SG) Collins Oyuu is calling for transparency in the ongoing promotion of teachers.
Oyuu said the teachers sat for interviews after their employer; the Teachers` Service Commission (TSC) advertised vacancies but the teacher employing body has not been transparent in releasing the names of those who were successful.
“Some of the teachers have stagnated for as much as 12 years in one grade but now TSC is just releasing only the employment numbers of those who were successful, we want them to release full names and employment numbers of those who were promoted and where they come from for transparency, and those who were unsuccessful should be told why,” the KNUT Secretary-General said.
The Teacher`s Service Commission had announced more than 700 vacancies in different posts and carried out interviews but the union now suspects that the exercise was not above board. This is after the Treasury released Sh. 1.1 billion for the exercise.
The union is also demanding that the TSC absorb all interns who are now doing their second year in service. Oyuu said according to the Employment Act, one should be employed permanently after serving as an intern for one year.
Since 2021 TSC has employed over 40,000 interns to help bridge the gap in the shortage of Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers but recently Treasury released only Sh.26Billion which will only be enough to employ just a section of this cohort permanently. This is according to the Ministry of Education report.
The union has also pointed out that there are grey areas in the Basic Education and Teachers` Service Commission (TSC) Bills 2024 currently pending before Parliament but said they were ready to engage with the Government on the Bills to iron out various contentious sections in the proposed TSC Act 2024 and the Basic Education Bill, 2024 before Parliament.
Oyuu noted that in the Policy paper that is in the TSC Bill, for example, no item addresses capitation in schools and this is likely to expose teachers, especially school managers and the parents.
“Teachers might be forced to charge extra levies on the already overburdened parents and the teachers might find themselves in crosshairs with their employer over this, therefor timely release of capitation to school should be anchored in the law so that learners are not sent away from school,”.
Oyuu faulted the Ministry of Education for reducing Capitation to senior schools from Sh. 21, 000 per student per annum to Sh.17, 000 saying this has made it difficult to run the schools given the hard economic times.
In May last year, the Ministry of Education released a new funding model where students from vulnerable and extremely needy households will receive 100 percent funding while the needy and less needy will get 93 percent government funding and a paltry seven percent contribution from their households to cover their education.
This model tries to move from the earlier one which was considered to be student-centric. The point of departure of the new model from the old model is its incorporation of a comprehensive needs assessment for each student.
The top echelon at the ministry is optimistic that the new funding model will help the education sector in the country.
In the new model, the Government is allocating sh. 22,240 for each learner in day Secondary, sh. 15,040 for Junior Secondary and parents and guardians of in Extra County and National Schools now pay sh. 53,000 annually per student for boarding and other amnesties and sh. 45,000 for learners in County category boarding schools.
The union is also opposing the issue of County Commissioners (CC) chairing the proposed County Education Board (CEB), saying the boards should be chaired by professionals.