Primary and secondary schools heads targeted in mass transfer

Teacher Gladys Kamotho issues textbooks to Class Eight pupils at Nyamachaki Primary School in January, 2018. [File, Standard]

A shakeup of the management of 30,000 public schools is looming, with the planned mass transfer of head teachers.

The teachers will be transferred after schools close this Friday.

This could rekindle opposition from parents and other stakeholders, as witnessed earlier this year when the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) ordered the re-deployment of more than 500 long-serving head teachers to new schools.

The directive parked protests, with some leaders opposing the posting of some head teachers to their schools.

Attacks against new head teachers were reported in Bungoma, Vihiga, Kisii, Siaya, West Pokot, and Kisumu.

The Standard has established that the heads of 23,000 primary schools are targeted in the mass transfer, which will affect staff who have stayed in one station for more than nine years.

Also to be moved are secondary school heads managing the 4,000 county and sub-county schools as the TSC embarks on the second phase of delocalisation.

A number of principals in national and extra-county schools who were not affected in the January transfer may also be targeted in the exercise meant to promote national integration and improve quality education.

TSC said the transfers were also meant to ensure that fresh ideas were infused into institutions after the long stay of some head teachers.

The commission last month asked county directors to send data on all heads in their regions in readiness for the transfers when schools close.

“Please capture details of heads, deputy heads, senior teachers, and special needs teachers on separate sheets. Do expedite to fast-track delocalisation,” reads the memo dated February 8.

The Ministry of Education school calendar shows that schools close this Friday, April 6.

The second term starts on April 30 and runs to August 3. 

TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia told MPs last month that the transfers would be implemented gradually until all the objectives of the reforms were fully realised.

Sources yesterday said the commission was working on a transfer framework that should be completed in the next two weeks.

This means that when schools open for the second term, all the affected teachers should have received their transfer letters and handed over their current stations.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has declared an industrial dispute with TSC over the transfers and wants the process stopped.

The commission has insisted that the transfers were in line with the provisions of the code of regulations for teachers and collective bargaining agreements signed between TSC and teachers’ unions.