Machogu Has Issued statement on State of 26,871 Teacher Transfers
Due to a shortage of acceptable placements, Education Cabinet Ezekiel Machogu has stated that 26,871 teachers have not yet been relocated back to their home counties.
Only 20,055 of the 46,926 primary and secondary school teachers who had asked to be relocated back to their home counties as of June 30 had actually received that request.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC), according to Mr. Machogu, would make sure that the station the teacher is leaving has an appropriate replacement and that the station to which the teacher has applied for transfer has a vacancy. This was said during an appearance before the Senate last week.
“This will make it possible for the commission to guarantee the equitable distribution and best use of teachers across the nation for the benefit of all students. Already, the transfer policy has been changed. In answer to a query about the delocalization strategy from Nandi Senator Samson Cherargey, he declared that it was no longer in effect.
Mr. Machogu stated that the TSC must “ensure equitable distribution and optimal utilisation of teachers in all public basic education institutions to ensure that learners throughout the country have access to quality education as required by Article 43 of the Constitution” in order to carry out its mandate to transfer and post teachers.
According to the CS, TSC used delocalization—in which instructors were sent to schools outside of their hometowns—to foster national unification and cohesiveness, avoid management conflicts of interest, and alleviate teacher shortages in specific regions of the nation.
“Teachers must submit a request if they want their transfer to another institution to be taken into consideration. The necessity for equal distribution and best use of instructors will serve as the guide for teacher transfers between institutions, the CS added.
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Other requirements include the presence of openings at the proposed station, the necessity for replacement, current staffing standards, medical considerations, or other factors that the TSC may take into account.
The CS stated that after a teacher requests a transfer to the county of their choice, it is the duty of TSC to confirm that there are sufficient openings, replacements, and a personnel balance across the nation before the transfer is authorised.
“This is to discourage mass evacuation of teachers from one station to another, which can have the effect of disrupting learning in an institution to the detriment of learners,” he said.
According to Mr. Machogu, the commission was carefully and methodically reviewing transfer requests. He continued by saying that finding suitable replacements is a difficult problem, particularly for principals.
TSC received 35,959 applications from instructors seeking transfers at the primary level, but only 17,942 have been transferred, leaving 18,017 still on the waiting list due to a shortage of qualified replacements. Only 2,113 of the 10, 967 teachers who asked for transfer in post-primary were actually accepted.
“According to TSC data, a total of 1,005 teachers who wanted to be transferred to Nandi County have been moved as requested and properly replaced since January 2023. TSC now has 828 transfer requests from all over the nation to be transferred to Nandi, according to Mr. Machogu.
Machogu Has Issued statement on State of 26,871 Teacher Transfers
