The Director of public prosecutions Noordin Haji has threatened to charge TSC for failing to put in place policies that protect teachers in volatile areas of the country from insecurity.

DPP Haji who spoke in Garissa during a TSC stakeholders engagement forum urged TSC to fast track solutions that will help in addressing problems of teachers who continue to suffer amid security crisis.

“If you don’t address teacher issues, we will become a burden on the whole of Kenya and this issue will come to your doorstep. We can’t afford to have a teacher in a school, that’s all simply not acceptable in today’s Kenya,” he said.

Noordin Haji poked holes in the Nancy Macharia led commission which he said supposed to protect teachers but is yet to address their concerns.

Haji said that the ongoing trend is is alarming and the issue needed to be treated with the utmost urgency-failure to which, the whole commission would be dealt with affirmatively.

He built his allegations on the Section 7 of the children’s act, which allow him to charge the commission for failing to give sufficient education to the children since most schools in bandit prone areas are understaffed.

“Under section 7 of the Children Act, I can charge the whole commission for refusing to give education to Kenyan and to the children,” he noted.

Read also:

HomaBay night runner Swears to sue CS Magoha for refusing to let him sit KCSE at night

TSC Warns Teachers over Planned CBA Strike

TSC Rules Out Pay Rise, Opens Fresh Rivalry With Tutors

Magoha Warns School Heads Against Colluding With ‘KNEC Officials’ to Steal Exams

Weatherman Gives List Of Areas That Will Have Heavy Downpours During KCPE, KCSE Exams

TSC urges Kuppet to suspend planned strike, Promises To Respond To Their Demands

Accept Ongoing Reforms or Perish, TSC Tells Teachers

Stop Targeting Candidates To Win Wars With TSC, Magoha Tells KUPPET

Another Blow To TSC As Parliament Demands Promotion Of All Teachers with Higher Qualifications

He further called for the creation of a department within TSC to deal with the plight of tutors in the regions that are highly regarded as volatile areas.

He noted that the department’s mandate would be to find solutions to ensure all children access their fundamental right to education.

“It is high time that in the North, including hostile areas such as Samburu, we must have a department that will look into that, that will use statistics and data in order to find amicable solutions,” he pointed out.

“I have already initiated a meeting with county commissioners, the regional security intelligence committee and education officials during this week.”

“We will have this meeting so that we put in place security measures and other logistical arrangements to ensure that we have a smooth running,” he said.

Haji’s remarks come days after the government relocated hundreds of KCPE/KCSE candidates set to sit for the national examinations in the coming week. The students were moved from areas affected by banditry attacks such as Baringo and Elgeyo Marakwet counties.

The move came after the Rift Valley Regional Commissioner Mohammed Maalim held meetings with Education stakeholders in order to ensure the safety of the candidates.

“I have already initiated a meeting with the county commissioners, the regional security intelligence committee and education officials within the course of this week.”

“We will have that meeting so that we put security measures and other logistical arrangements to make sure we have smooth running,” he stated.

The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) will kick off on March 7, 2022, while the Kenya National Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is scheduled to begin on March 12, 2022.

Teachers acting as school administrators are set to be promoted on affirmative action. Among those to be confirmed are senior teachers and masters, deputy headteachers and school heads in acting capacity. However, this will begin with Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) and hard to staff areas, according to information from TSC.

To be considered for promotion, the teachers must have served in their current position for at least three years.

Read also:

List of TSC Appointed HeadTeachers, Principals, Deputies And Senior Teachers Per County

Updated: Lists Of TSC Promoted Teachers 2021 Per County

Updated: List Of Schools That Will Host Junior Secondary Schools Per County Under CBC

TSC Releases Number Of Teachers Who Defiled students in 2021 Per County, Pledges To Publish Photos

New: List of Deregistered Teachers Between September-November 2021

Hard to staff Areas As Per CBA 2021-2025

Nationwide Survey and Review Of Hardship Areas

Although the Teachers Service Commission, (TSC) through circular number 14/2021 said promotions of teachers shall be in accordance with the Career Progression Guidelines in force, TSC maintained that teachers serving in ASAL and hard to staff areas and are holding administrative positions in an acting capacity shall be promoted progressively until they obtain grades commensurate to their respective positions.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general, Collins Oyuu, clarified that what TSC has done is to list the hard to staff areas and maintained that they are putting administrators on acting capacity regardless of their grade, who will continue to serve in those administrative positions in the hard to staff areas until they attain their respective grades for confirmation.

“Those areas are hardship but hard to staff, meaning, even positions of Head teachers and Deputies nobody is ready to be there, and those who are there are not even qualified for those positions in terms of what we have in the CBA,” said Oyuu.

“They are promoted to act in those positions because those areas are hard to staff and nobody is willing to go there,” he added.

Oyuu added that what TSC is looking at is the interest an individual teacher has in line with serving under acting capacity of administration in those areas prior to one’s grade until when the teacher attains the full grade of administrator for full confirmations of the position the teacher was acting before.

Sources say the promotions and employment of more teachers will happen after the July budget.Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has allocated an additional Sh14.9 billion to the TSC, whose budget has risen to Sh296.6 billion from Sh281.7 billion this year.

TSC will receive an extra Sh15 billion for the 2022 – 2023 financial year, with the additional money aimed to cater for a pay rise and hiring of new teachers.

The National Treasury has also allocated an extra Sh70.8 billion to ministries for recurrent expenditure, including the annual pay rise.

Already a total of 1,963 teachers were promoted following interviews conducted in November by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

The Commission interviewed 1,376 teachers holding positions of Heads and Deputy Heads of

institutions in ASAL and Hard to Staff areas who were seeking promotions.