In Kenya, the Teachers service commission (TSC) is an independent commission established to manage human resource within the education sector.It has a vision of being a transformative teaching service for quality education.
This commission is based in the capital city, Nairobi, and its offices spread through all the 47 counties.
On 6th of April 2022, the teachers service commission under the commission CEO Nancy Macharia began an exercise to ensure rationalization of staffing across the country for the next term. Term one for the year 2022 begins on 25th of April for boarding schools while the day schoolers are expected to report early the following day.
Those that are affected by the delocalization and rationalization process are both primary and secondary school teachers, including the head of institutions.
The mass transfers is a great concern among teachers, since most of them have never been of similar opinion as to propose the move.
TSC has among other mandates the hiring, deployment and transfer of teachers. During employment, all teachers sign an agreement that is presented to the commission. Among the details of the contract strongholds is the willingness to work in any part of the country.
Teacher transfer has been a concern for both the teachers themselves and the commission. Both parties face an advantage for the exercise, sometimes a disadvantage to teachers.
For instance, to the commission, some of the advantages of delocalizing its employees include;
I) It ensures that all schools are having a balanced teacher-learner ratio.
II) It encourages a healthy cross cultural exchange that can be a great contributor of inclusivity and national unity.
III) It tends to reduce a great deal issues of financial and malpractices brought about by corruption in schools.
IV) It reduces incidences of student indiscipline by providing a new form of energy within the teaching fraternity.
V) Ensures quality performance for students in terms of quality grades and hence high level of expertise.
VI) Ensures gender balance within the teaching staff.
On the other hand, the advantages of teacher delocalization to the teacher include;
I) Acts as a relief for teachers who have health problems related to the current working environment.
II) It helps fulfil the plans of those teachers who had already requested transfers through the commission for one reason or the other.
Nevertheless, teacher delocalization has now been a thorn on the flesh of teachers. It has led to families braking due to distance between its members. This one alone is an enormous factor to married teachers that TSC has in the past always overlooked its strength.
For this year, among those exempted from the transfers include the married, with a proof on their portfolio, since the commission indicated to transfer them to neighbouring neighbourhood.Those with proved underlying illness and special needs teachers, together with the aged (above 56yrs) will be exempted.
Even so, for the past few years, the Kenya National Union of teachers has always called on the government to stop teacher delocalization. The union indicates that over 100 teachers have left the profession following a government policy that hinders them to work in their home counties.
