TSC owes acting school heads Sh2.2bn as succession crisis hits 11,200 schools

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More than a third of public schools are operating with acting heads or deputies as the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) struggles to pay them outstanding acting allowances of Sh2.2 billion.

The TSC report has exposed poor succession planning in more than 11,200 public primary and secondary schools across the country.

The report by the TSC – aggregated per county – revealed that more than 11,200 public primary and secondary schools across the country are operating with either school heads or their deputies in an acting capacity.

Kenya has 33,436 public schools in the country, with public primary schools being 23,831 and 9,605 public secondary schools.

According to the report submitted before the Senate Education Committee, some 7,620 public primary schools in the country are run by head teachers and deputy head teachers in an acting capacity, revealing a worrying trend in the education sector.

As of 2020, the number of public primary schools in the country was 23,831, with Kitui County leading with 1,376 such schools, followed by Kakamega (911), Makueni (901), Homa Bay (879) and Machakos (856) rounding off the top five.

According to the report submitted before the Senate Education Committee, the acting crisis is also prevalent at the secondary level, where 3,612 schools either have an acting principal or deputy principal. The 2020 report indicated that the country has 9,605 public secondary institutions.

West Pokot, Narok, Bomet, Wajir, Mandera and Migori lead counties worst affected by the ongoing crisis, having secondary schools without substantive principals.

According to the report, 112 public secondary schools operate with acting principals, followed by Narok (70), Bomet (58), Wajir (54) and Mandera and Migori (46).

The least affected counties in this regard are Mombasa (2), Vihiga (3), Kirinyaga (5); Laikipia and Nairobi (6), and Nyandarua (8).

On the other hand, Kitui, Bomet, Homa Bay, West Pokot and Migori lead the way in counties without substantive deputy principals.

Kitui County leads with 167 schools, followed closely by Bomet at 165, Homa Bay (151), West Pokot (149) and Migori (135).

Least affected counties in this regard include Mombasa (one), Nairobi (2), Embu (4), Isiolo (6), Lamu and Kirinyaga (7), Laikipia (8) and Elgeyo Marakwet (9).

Concerning primary schools, Kitui (147), Machakos (116), Wajir (116) and Mandera (101) lead counties with acting head teachers.

Least affected counties include Mombasa (1), Lamu (3), Isiolo (5) and Laikipia (6) with Nairobi County having no such problem.

On the other hand, the most affected schools without substantive deputy head teachers are in Turkana, West Pokot, Wajir, Mandera and Bungoma.

Turkana County has 387 such schools, followed closely by West Pokot with 345 and Wajir (292), Mandera (278) and Bungoma (273).

Other counties with more than 200 or more such schools include Kitui (230), Garissa (220), Kakamega (217), Homa Bay (216), and Bomet (200).

From the report, it is clear that schools drawn from arid and semi-arid areas are the worst affected, accounting for the bulk of the counties.

Appearing before the Senate Education Committee, TSC acting chief executive officer Evaleen Mitei admitted that the current career progression guidelines (CPGs), done in 2016, have been restrictive and not offering flexible progression pathways for both institutional administrators and classroom teachers.

She told the committee chaired by nominated Senator Betty Montet that the current career advancement pathways are markedly restrictive, thereby hindering a smooth transition from classroom instruction to institutional administration.

“What the previous career progression guidelines did was that they locked everyone on the lower level and created succession gaps in administrative cadres and perhaps contributed to why we have so many administrators acting because they don’t meet the higher grades,” said Ms Mitei.

“The upper grades were only reserved for the administrators and any time one would exit, it would be very difficult to get teachers to take up the administrative roles,” she added.

The Senate committee was concerned by the Commission’s management of succession planning in public schools, taking Ms Mitei to task over long-acting appointments and the maximum permissible duration of such appointments.

Nominated Senator Catherine Mumma wanted to know the policy, legal and administrative framework governing the appointment, deployment and promotion of institutional administrators, including the criteria for acting appointments, the maximum permissible duration of such appointments and the measures in place to ensure timely appointments to the substantive positions.

“What is the legal period for acting in the country and what is the compensation for acting? Where you have had people act for more than the required time, what has TSC done to transition people acting to substantive positions and also compensate the individuals,” said Ms Mumma.

Taita Taveta Senator Johnes Mwaruma also wanted to know how TSC manages succession planning in schools to ensure that upon retirement of the head of an institution, the deputy head is qualified to take up the acting position of head of the institution until recruitment for the position is completed.

In her response, the TSC boss pointed out that appointments of teachers to administrative positions is governed by several policy instruments including the Constitution, in particular Article 237(2)(d) and 232, the Code of Regulations for Teachers, regulation 73; the Policy on Appointment and Deployment of Institutional Administrators 2017 and the 2021-2025 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed between TSC and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers and Kenya Union of Special Needs Teachers.

According to the 2017 policy, said Ms Mitei, pathways for classroom teachers terminated at D1 for secondary school teachers, while those for administrators started at D3 to D5, resulting in the gaps currently being experienced across the country.

For primary schools, the pathway for classroom teachers began at B5 and terminated at C3, while that for administrators began at C4 to D1.

Consequently, Ms Mitei said the current situation has prompted an initiative to review the CPGs, primarily to establish more flexible career progression routes for both administrators and classroom teachers.

This has opened two clear pathways where primary teachers can progress from B5 to D5 as well as improve succession management by offering a clearly delineated leadership pathway for teachers interested in school administration.

“We have opened up both pathways to go from B5 to D5 so that a teacher is able to progress to the highest level of teaching service even if they are not administrators, to ensure smooth transition from classroom to administrative positions,” she said.

On matters of promotion, the TSC boss said promotions are dictated by availability of funds, presence of vacancies in approved and authorised establishments, merit and ability demonstrated through work performance, seniority and experience, annual performance records, and academic and professional qualifications.

Ms Mitei revealed that the Commission owes the acting teachers Sh2.2 billion as acting allowances, a budget request the National Treasury has not approved.

However, Senator Mumma was livid on why the Commission has continued to allow teachers to act administratively as either principals, head teachers and deputies but not get paid, likening the situation to exploitation.

But the TSC head said their hands are tied because the National Treasury has not approved the request for Sh2.2 billion due to tight fiscal space not allowing for an additional budget for the Commission.

“We are very clear as a Commission that all teachers should be compensated for the work they do are supposed to be paid for work done, but our hands are tied because when we ask for this money, the National Treasury says the fiscal space cannot allow for any additional allocation to the TSC’s budget,” said Ms Mitei.

Reporting originally appeared via Nation Africa. Read the full source for additional context.