In summary
There will be no transfers for teachers with extreme medical conditions.
Teachers who have attained the age of 56 years will also be spared.
Teachers’ unions KNUT and KUPPET have however opposed this announcement.
The TSC CEO Dr Nancy Macharia has made a grand announcement.
She has said that there will be no transfers for all teachers who are married to their colleagues.
She further added that in the process of undertaking delocalization, TSC has got a policy regarding the teacher’s family.
According to this policy, the term family refers to a teacher to teacher marriage.
She revealed the news yesterday when she appeared before the National Assembly’s Committee on Education.
FRESH BATTLEFIELDS
This directive has however sparked emotions from the teachers’ unions.
It is therefore likely to invite trouble and fresh battlegrounds between the TSC and unionists.
KNUT and KUPPET have been on the forefront in the fight against the whole process of delocalization of teachers.
PRESIDENT UHURU’S VIEWS ON DELOCALIZATION
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on 19th August had directed the Teachers Service Commission to go slow on the transfer of teachers.
He suggested that these transfers are likely to destabilize the families of Kenyan teachers.
The Teachers Service Commission, however, ignored the president’s views and transferred teachers indiscriminately.
In December 2018, the TSC transferred 3, 094 teachers despite bitter protests.
SPECIAL TEACHERS
Dr Macharia also said that teachers with serious medical conditions and those who have attained the age of 56 years will be spared.
Following a court order stopping the transfer of teachers, it is only the newly recruited teachers who are eligible for transfers from now onwards.
Mr Sossion yesterday made it clear that no teacher family is special.
He further accused the commission of implementing a discriminative policy on what constitutes a family and ignoring the President’s directive last year.
KUPPET’S TAKE
KUPPET’s secretary-general Akello Misori has also joined its sister union KNUT to oppose the TSC policy.
The Teachers Service Commission had introduced the delocalization programme in 2017 and so far 8, 000 teachers have been transferred.
TROUBLED FAMILIES
The delocalization policy has been marred with severe criticism from the teachers affected.
They feel alienated from their families and in some cases, this delocalization has led to divorce and separation.
The greatest challenge posed by the policy is the long distance. Teachers are forced to work very far away from their home counties making it impossible for them to enjoy quality time with their spouses.
The policy was however implemented irrespective of the acute shortage of teachers in Kenya’s public schools.
The commission has also been through murky waters when Kenyan teachers serving the North Eastern Counties fled Mandera, Garissa and Wajir counties due to terror attacks and hostility emanating from locals.
several teachers were shot dead by Al-Shabaab militia on their way home after schools closed.
TUTORS
Dr. Nancy Macharia in 2018- May released new guidelines for tutors.
According to the policy, tutors are expected to serve for at least five years in the counties they get posted to before seeking for transfers to their preferred work stations.
