Panic Hits as TSC Mass Transfer Looms For Kenyan Teachers

The latest decision to initiate transfers among school heads has caused panic among teachers a countrywide.
Panic has hit over 30,000 heads of both primary and secondary public schools as details emerged of a fresh shake-up by the TSC coming this April.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is reported to have directed its regional staff to collect and forward data of school heads who have stayed in one working station for over nine years.
The directive has resulted in a brewing row between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) over impending mass transfers and delocalisation of school heads.
In a February 26 memo to all Regional Directors, TSC wants to be furnished with details of primary school headteachers and principals of secondary schools who have exited the teaching service.
According to a report written by The Standard, the employer has also requested data of school heads who are presently working from home due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. All these sending a signal a major shake-up of public schools’ management.
TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia had asked teachers who are 50 years and above and those with underlying conditions to work from as they were at high risk of contracting the virus.
In the memo that elapsed last week, TSC had advised that principals aged 55 below be considered for transfer. In their place, the newly appointed principals under Grade D3 will fill their vacancies.
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The massive transfer move has already received opposition from KNUT Secretary general Wilson. Sossion.
In a statement yesterday, Sossion claimed the delocalisation policy was sneaked in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report which he said is TSC is using to institute the schools’ management shake-up.
In a letter to the BBI secretariat, Sossion said: “The policy was not proposed by Kenyans but was unjustly sneaked into the report to drive TSC’s agenda of delocalisation of teachers.”
“If TSC executes massive delocalisation of teachers in April, then it shall be met with collective industrial action to safeguard our families and the teaching profession.”
The BBI report has proposed that the Ministry of Education adopts policy guidelines that discourage local recruitment and staffing of teachers, depending on the circumstances.
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The president in his directive during the first massive transfer in delocalization move directed the Ministry of Education to review the TSC policy on mass teacher transfer.
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