TSC to promote 6,000 teachers

TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia. [File, Standard]

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will promote some 6,043 teachers to positions of head teacher and deputy head teacher.

TSC is seeking to fill 2,310 vacant positions in the head teacher category, and 3,733 that have fallen vacant in the deputy headteacher category.

The positions that will be advertised tomorrow, come as per the career progression guidelines for teachers.

According to TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia, the vacancies are available for head teachers who fall under C5 T-Scale 10 and deputy head teachers II under C4 T-Scale 9.

The promotions comes after the Labour and Employment Relations Court made a ruling that streamlines how teachers’ promotions will be undertaken.

“TSC will undertake promotions in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Code of Regulations for Teachers and the schemes of service with respect to all unionisable tutors,” Judge Byram Ongaya ruled on July 13 this year.

The ruling also opened the door for 50,000, other tutors who have gained higher academic qualifications to be promoted to a higher grade.

TSC had pushed during the hearing of the case for promotions to be based only on performance and availability of vacancies.

The case had been filled by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).

Knut, through its Secretary General Wilson Sossion, had pushed for promotions to be based on academic and professional qualifications.

Mr Sossion said thousands of teachers had been stuck in one grade since 2014, even after attaining higher academic qualifications.

Ongaya ruled that TSC and Knut should review the prevailing schemes of service to align them with the Collective Bargaining Agreement structure, without breaching the code of regulations for teachers.

TSC suffered a setback when the court also ruled that head teachers and their deputies can be unionisable.

Ongaya also stopped TSC from deploying teachers who are Knut officials to schools that are outside the geographical areas they represent.  

According to TSC, teachers who are interested in the promotions must make applications that are accompanied by a certificate of good conduct, clearance certificate by the Higher Education Loans Board, clearance from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, from Credit Reference Bureau and a Kenya Revenue Authority tax compliance certificate.