Delocalization of teachers by the Teachers Service Commission, TSC, has been given a big boost. The Commission will now transfer teachers at will if proposals by the Building Bridges Initiative, BBI, Committee are adopted.
According to the BBI report released on Wednesday, the Ministry of Education is to adopt policy guidelines that discourage recruitment and staffing of teachers to schools from the local community.
Ensure that secondary boarding schools that are publicly funded have representation from different counties amounting to at least 50 percent of the student body. The Ministry of Education should develop a policy to guide this requirement. This recommendation should also apply to teachers,” reads the report in part.
“To strengthen social ties and promote unity among all the communities, stake holders recommended that the Ministry of Education review the curricula to introduce and integrate teaching of national unity, character and cohesion to learners during their formative or early years,” the report adds.
Delocalization of teachers has been the thorn in flesh for teachers pitting the unions against the employer, TSC. The Kenya National Union of Teachers, KNUT, has been vocal in opposing the policy that it terms draconian.
Also, selection of form one students to special schools and other select national schools should be done separately.
Teaching learners on cultural diversity should now be given more emphasis. “The Ministry of Education and TSC, in consultation with stakeholders such as parents and teachers’ associations, the private schools alliance, churches and other stakeholders in the education sector, should revise the school curricula to include cultural diversity,” the report suggests.