TSC: WHAT HAPPENS TO TSC EMPLOYED TEACHERS WHO ARE YET TO RECEIVE THEIR POSTING/ DEPLOYMENT LETTERS AND COVID-19 RELIEF?

TSC: WHAT HAPPENS TO TSC EMPLOYED TEACHERS WHO ARE YET TO RECEIVE THEIR POSTING/ DEPLOYMENT LETTERS AND COVID-19 RELIEF?

Even as we jubilate over the release of free primary and secondary education funds to cater for the salaries of BOM teachers, let us not forget about our brothers and sisters whose deployment letters are yet to be dispatched.

A few weeks ago, we highlighted the plight of Ms. Lydia Ireri, a teacher from Meru who, left without any option, opted to travel with her young baby all the way to the TSC Headquarters to have the Commission address her plight.

Ms. Ireri had been successfully recruited in a TSC interview. She has however been subjected to abject poverty since the Commission is yet to dispatch her posting letter.

TSC’s POSITION ON THE DISPATCHMENT OF DEPLOYMENT/ POSTING LETTERS

After bloggers highlighted Ms. Ireri’s troubles after being denied access to the TSC offices, the commission’s head of communications officer Ms. Beatrice Wababu issued an official statement about the dispatching of TSC employment letters.

According to Ms.Wababu, the Commission will dispatch deployment letters and posting letters for newly employed teachers once schools reopen in January 2021.

Our main concern is not when the letters will be sent, the bigger question is what happens to these teachers for the next six months or so?

It is now in the public domain that the government is planning to cushion private schools and teachers employed by school management boards. The funds for BOM teachers’ salaries have been released, but what happens to these “TSC employed” teachers who are yet to report to their stations of work.

TSC RECRUITMENTS 2020: MASS RECRUITMENT AND REPLACEMENTS

The Commission usually employs teachers via two main ways. We have teachers employed through replacements on a termly basis which translates to three times in a year and those employed after a new budgetary allocation during mass recruitments.

A quick fact check by our media team shows that teachers who were employed to replace those who exited service late last year have not received their posting letters.

The TSC takes up to three months to dispatch the letters after which the teacher is expected to report to his or her new work station.

After reporting within the stipulated time, the school head fills a casualty form showing that the teacher has commenced duty so that the Commission can put the teacher on the TSC payroll for him or her to receive a salary.

Now that the Commission has not dispatched the posting and deployment letters, the affected teachers can neither report to their new work stations nor receive salaries.

Before being absorbed by the TSC, most of these tutors work in private schools and in public schools on BOM terms. However, most employers tend to sack them after learning that they have been employed on permanent and pensionable terms by the Commission.

This means that these teachers have not been receiving salaries too for almost six months now.

If the government has decided to cushion teachers, it should take into account this category of tutors since they too have needs and young families that rely on them.