Several teachers who have acquired higher qualifications while in the profession could be promoted and added salaries following National Assembly recommendations after a successful petition by a splinter union.

Martha Omollo, Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group (KNTPG) spokesperson petitioned Parliament to push the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to promote teachers with diplomas, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees acquired during the service.

Subsequently, the 12th Parliament on its final sitting recommended that TSC should recognize and acknowledge higher qualifications acquired by teachers while in service.

“The TSC should within six months of adoption of this report open negotiations with teachers’ unions on the Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) and uphold the rights of teachers who have acquired relevant qualifications at the time of their in-service.

“Further TSC shall give guidelines on relevant courses to be undertaken by teachers,” reads the report.

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According to the legislators, the promotions would be “in accordance with UNESCO/ILO recommendations of 1966 that acknowledge the intellectual rights of teachers who undertake and conclude relevant in-service courses.”

The teacher’s employer stopped the automatic promotions which were based on the Schemes of Service in 2014, and replaced it with the Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) in 2016.

The members of parliament have also instructed the teachers’ employer to submit budgetary requirements for promotion of all eligible teachers in the 2023/2024 financial budget estimates for consideration by the National Assembly.

This new development will be a very big win for big win for Omollo. In 2021, Omollo accused TSC of victimisation after being transferred from Nairobi to Trans Nzoia County.

The petition was presented before the House on February 18, 2022 by Nominated MP Wilson Sossion on behalf of Ms Omollo. Mr Sossion quit as Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general after having a fractious relationship with the TSC.

“These recommendations are now compulsive to TSC. This should have been petitioned a long time ago,” Mr Sossion revealed.

The unions supported the promotion of teachers who acquired higher qualifications while the commission defended the Code of Regulation for Teachers and the CPGs, saying the two instruments provide the minimum qualification required for each job grade and the conditions to be met before a teacher is promoted.

“TSC should promote teachers who graduated before 2014. They used their resources to study but they have now stagnated in the same job group. We speak for teachers because the unions no longer speak for us,” said Omollo.

Previously, primary school teachers who attained a diploma in education or a degree were automatically promoted to Job Group K and L respectively.

Members of parliament have proposed a petition which will see primary school teachers that further their studies get promoted by the teachers’ service commission, TSC.

Should the get adopted, all PTE teachers who furthered their studies will be recognized and promoted by TSC.

February 24^th, the parliamentary Education and Research committee resolved to invite the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to respond to a petition tabled in Parliament seeking to compel the employer to acknowledge degrees attained by in-service teachers from recognized universities.

The petition, presented by ODM nominated MP Wilson Sossion, wants Parliament to recommend that the TSC puts in place policy guidelines to promote or upgrade teachers who successfully acquire qualifications from recognized institutions in line with international best practices.

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The Commission does not want to promote primary and secondary school teachers who lack grade C+(plus) in KCSE exams including C+(plus) in the teaching subjects.

However, the committee, chaired by Busia MP Florence Mutua, said that the petition had raised pertinent issues that need to be urgently discussed and addressed within the shortest time possible.

“As a committee, we have supported the petition and agreed to invite the TSC to shed light on the issues raised. We have also agreed to urgently hear the petition and ensure we capture the cash needed to implement this in the next budget” Ms Mutua said.

In the petition signed by teachers Martha Omollo,Eva Muchemi and Salvin Munene,they want the MPs to enquire into the circumstances under which the TSC has since 2014 unilaterally declined to recognize diplomas, undergraduate, and graduate and post graduate degrees earned by in-service teachers from recognized universities.

“That in the interest of self-improvement, many teachers have progressively advanced their qualifications by pursuing and successfully earning high qualifications, ranging from diplomas, bachelors, masters and even doctoral degrees,” reads the petition.

The three teachers are members of the Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group (KNTPG), which the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Collins Oyuu has dismissed as “an illegal group with no rights to speak for teachers”.

The TSC Act,2012, emphasizes the need for the commission to require every registered teacher to undertake career progression and professional development programme to be promoted.

In 2015, the commission abandoned the schemes of service, which considered the academic qualification when promoting teachers, and introduced the Career Progression Guidelines(CPGS), which focuses on teachers’ performance for promotions.

Mr Sossion said thousands of teachers have acquired higher qualifications but the commission has refused to recognize them, and insisted on using the CPGs.

“Your humble petitioners pray that this House, through the departmental Committee on Education and Research intervenes in the matter,” reads the petition.

Existing data shows that more than 30,000 teachers who acquired higher degrees and diplomas are yet to be promoted.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (Kuppet) Chairperson Omboko Milemba said the shift from schemes of service to CPG disadvantaged many teachers who had acquired loans to further their studies, in the hope of being promoted.

“Majority of those affected were primary school P1 teachers who went back to school and acquired diplomas and degrees, a large number of secondary school teachers also went back to school and acquired undergraduate degrees for those who had diplomas, Masters degrees while others hold PhD and are still in class with no promotion,” said Milemba.

Milemba, who is also the Emuhaya MP and a member of the Education Committee said the introduction of CPGs wasted the efforts made by teachers to further their studies.

The promotion of teachers using the CPGs was among the issues that brought friction between TSC and Knut during Session’s tenure as the secretary-general at the union, leading to endless court battles.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) now wants punitive teacher transfers reversed.

KNUT Secretary-General Collins Oyuu said while teachers can be transferred for various reasons including administrative or on request, some past transfers had been punitive.

“These transfers must not be punitive by any standards. Teachers should always feel there is genuine reason they are being moved from one station to another,’’ said Mr Oyuu.

He said: “The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) should ensure those who are being transferred are taken to places where they can work and produce results, not to places where they feel punished.”

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Oyuu, who said some teachers had written to Knut about the punitive transfers, added that a date had been secured between the union and TSC to discuss the transfers.

He said the delocalisation policy affected teachers who are married couples. Oyuu said the issue was discussed in the 2021-2025 CBA.

“All our members who feel aggrieved by this policy shall be assisted to have them work close to their families and spouses. This must not attract any argument since it is espoused in the running CBA. We wish to invite affected members to reach out to us for support,” the Knut boss said.

Speaking in Nairobi yesterday, the Knut official said there was need for public goodwill for the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) to succeed.

Oyuu’s concerns come months after a section of teachers opposed to the TPD under the umbrella body, national teachers pressure group, ed by ms Martha Omollo, were unceremoniously transferred to hard stuff and far-flung regions. KNUT declined to fight for them, arguing that they followed a wrong channel and that they were non members

On teachers numbers, Oyuu said the shortage in primary schools stand at 84,000 and 12,000 in secondary schools.

Efforts of registering another teachers’ trade union have hit a brick wall after the Registrar of Trade Unions declined to register the Kenya National Union of Classroom Teachers (KNUCT) on the basis that there already exists registered trade unions representing the rights and interests of teachers in the said category. A letter signed by the Registrar of Trade Unions, Mrs Elizabeth Gicheha dated November 10, 2021 sent to KNUCT through Ondieki and Ondieki Advocates, who applied for a certificate on September 23,2021, indicated that the intention of the law is that a proposed trade union would engage on recruitment for the sectors where no other trade union exists.

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In 2020, the National Education Union (NEU) received the same blow. A letter signed by Mrs Gicheha dated August 26, 2020 addressed to NEU through Salim Omar and Company Advocates, who made a formal application for a certificate on August 24, 2020, reads in part, “I wish to inform you that contrary to the assertion by your client, there already exists registered trade Unions representing the rights and interests of the envisioned scope of representation.” She stated in the letter that Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) under its registered constitution represents every registered, certified, licensed or authorized teachers of all grade and qualification in Kenya while Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) under its registered constitution represents teachers/trainers in secondary and tertiary institutions of good conduct and reputation, certified, licensed or authorised to teach.

She also noted that Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) under its registered constitution represents every trained and undergoing training teacher registered by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and other ministries and is employed in the field of Special Needs Education and Early Childhood Education while  Kenya Union of Pre-Primary Education Teachers (KUNOPPET) under its registered constitution represents all teachers in Early Childhood Education of good conduct and reputation, certified, licensed or authorized to teach.

The Registrar further explained that Kenya Union of Private Schools Teachers (KNUPST) under its registered constitution represents every trained teacher and tutor engaged to teach in private schools and private educational institutions i.e. private kindergartens, nurseries, preprimary, primary and secondary schools whose professional conduct of charge can be sustained.

Kenya Union of Technical and Vocational Education Trainers (KUTVET) drew its membership from TVET institutions like National Polytechnics, Technical Training Institutions (TTIs) Technical and Vocational Centres (TVCs) and Teacher Colleges. Had NEU’s registration been accepted, the union would have recruited its members from preprimary, primary, secondary and tertiary levels as well as those in private institutions. Such recruitment would have been a major breakaway from tradition where unions targeted membership from only one category of teachers.

Ms. Martha Omollo, who is the spokesperson of Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group (KNTPG), confirmed that she was among those proposing and pushing for the registration of NEU, arguing that teachers want a union they can associate with. “Together with other teachers, we were transferred for speaking against the Teacher Professional Development (TPD), for referring to the collapse of unions since they no longer speak for the Kenyan teacher and speaking up against the TSC Minet health insurance company covering teachers,” said Ms. Omollo. She added that teachers want a new union which they can associate with since they currently feel strangled in unions compromised by TSC.

“How does one explain why Knut withdrew or rather as the SG claim they only set aside the cases that were shielding teachers against punitive policies? If the unions can’t speak for us, we’ll speak for ourselves,” she said. Sources also revealed that Mr Nelson Kirui, who was among those transferred, received his transfer letter while outside a hospital theatre where his wife was undergoing surgery. He was among those proposing and calling for the registration of KNUCT.

In November this year, many teachers who were members and leaders of KNTPG were transferred to far-flung work stations in what TSC termed as a normal transfer, though many saw it as a move perceived to be a crackdown on those associated with the activities of the group.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia has transferred seven more tutors to far-flung work stations in a move perceived to be a crackdown on those associated with a new breakaway union.

The transfers come only a few days after Ms Macharia ordered the transfer Ms Martha Omollo, the spokesperson of Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group (TPG), from Mowlem Supaloaf Primary School in Njiru, Nairobi County to Trans Nzoia County.

A total of six teachers associated with the group have received letters of transfer from their previous schools to other counties.

More teachers have also been notified of their transfer and have been summoned to go to the commission’s offices to collect them immediately. Those who have received their letters are Ms Eva Muchemi from Plainview Primary South B Nairobi to Narok County, Ms Jane Gitonga from Kilimambogo Teachers Training College to Galana Teachers Training College, Mr Fanuel Ambole from Mumbuni Boys in Machakos to Sane Girls in Tana River County and Ms Ann Wanyoike from Kario-bangi South Primary in Nairobi County to Kitui County.

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Ms Betsy Mitema has been transferred from Kajiado County to Isiolo County. Others are Mr Julius Aloo from Ugari primary in Suna East, Migori County to Marsabit County, and Mr Kinyua Mwangi who has already been informed that his letter for transfer is ready and he should collect it.

Those transferred were officials of TPG. The Nation has also learnt that some other teachers who have been vocal against the TSC and the unions have also been notified of their transfers. In total, 10 teachers had been affected by yesterday evening. In one of the letters signed by a Mr Robert Muathe on behalf of Ms Macharia, the commission has not given the reasons for the transfer.

But the teachers say the transfer is meant to intimidate and to stop them from agitating for teachers’ rights. Although TSC has the discretion to transfer teachers, the timing and manner are not lost on observers and it appears to target TPG members.

Last week the teachers called for the suspension of the teachers medical scheme offered by AON Minet, called for the suspension of the TPD and also accused unions of failing to effectively represent teachers.

The transfers have angered teachers with some accusing Ms Macharia of unfairness. The lobby has planned a demonstration to protest against the transfer of Ms Omollo.

The demonstrations are also to oppose the implementation of the Teacher Professional Development Programme(TPD) that is scheduled to begin in December.

On Tuesday, teachers notified officers at Central Police Station in Nairobi on the peaceful demonstration that was to be held on Friday. However, after some of them received their transfer letters, they said they are yet to decide whether or not to go ahead with the demonstrations. Ms Omollo, yesterday told the Nation she is yet to report to Trans-Nzoia County as she is preparing to challenge the transfer in court.

“I decided that I should not report and instead challenge the matter in court as I find the transfer malicious,” she said. Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Collins Oyuu yesterday said the union has not received any complaints from the aggrieved teachers.

Speaking to the Nation, lawyer Soyinka Lempaa said TSC is using transfers to victimise teachers: “It is an unfair labour practice and sad that TSC is using transfers as a way of silencing teachers,” said Mr Lempaa.

“Individual teachers should write letters to TSC and demand to know the reason for their transfer,” he added.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general Collins Oyuu has blamed the current wrangles in the union on his predecessor Wilson Sossion.

Oyuu accused the group led by Martha Omollo, the spokesperson of Teachers Pressure Group, of being used by Sossion to disrupt the KNUT’s progress.

“If she wants to speak for teachers, let her wait for the next elections to vie for an elective post,” said Oyuu. Sossion and Omollo have however both denied Mr Oyuu’s accusations.

Oyuu said he will not allow anyone, not even Sossion to interfere with Knut’s progress.

“I am currently the legally elected secretary-general and I have been given powers by teachers to negotiate and speak for them, any other person purporting to speak on behalf of teachers should know they are fighting a losing battle,” said Oyuu.

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He claimed that though Sossion boycotted the June elections, he has continued to use people to disrupt efforts new Knut officials are making to restore the union back to its glory.

“Those teachers led by Martha, are behind Sossion, whatever they read in their press statements is drafted by Sossion. Those are self-seekers and they are going nowhere,” said Oyuu.

He said the Knut leadership is ready to confront anyone being used to bring disharmony in the union. Mr Sossion, however, said he left Knut and should not be involved in their issues.

Omollo said Oyuu is scared and has even sent one of his close friends to ask her to tone down.

“Elections have no number two, there will always be a winner and a loser. I started agitating for teachers issues before elections so how does losing come in?” she said.

Omollo further said, “Sossion is no longer in Knut, why are they still scared of him? They thought Sossion was the union, they are now realising teachers are the owners of the unions.”

Omollo, the spokesperson of the Teachers Pressure Group, together with other officials have for the last three weeks been calling for Knut and Kuppet officials to resign, saying they are not fighting for teachers’ rights.

The group is also opposed to the implementation of the Teachers Professional Development programme recently launched by the Teachers Service Commission.