14,733 teachers ask for transfers as MPs give TSC till Jan 31 to reverse delocalisation

14,733 teachers ask for transfers as MPs give TSC till Jan 31 to reverse delocalisation

The National Assembly’s Education committee has given the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) a deadline of January 31, 2023, to complete the process of returning teachers who were delocalised to their homes; since 2017.

This is after an outcry by teachers who had been forcefully transferred to counties outside their homes.

The TSC told MPs that it had by November received applications from 14,733 teachers seeking to be transferred.

The MPs have now directed TSC to reverse the transfers and give a status report by end of January, next year.

“I direct that you table before this committee the status report on the transfers by January 15 and the teachers who are seeking to move be transferred by January 31, 2023,” Julius Melly, who chairs the committee told the TSC.

The punitive delocalization policy has been facing opposition from the teachers and their unions.

The policy makes it difficult for delocalised teachers to be transferred back home. The policy requires a delocalised teacher to have completed at least three years in the North Eastern region and at least five years in other regions.

Attempts by the TSC to have the committee allow the commission to determine the transfers of the 14,733 teachers on a case-by-case basis were rejected by Mr Melly.

It remains to be seen how TSC will reverse the transfers considering that another challenge will be that of staffing Junior Secondary Schools.

Mr Melly told the TSC director for Legal Cavin Anyuor and commission chairperson Jamleck Muturi to heed the directive of the committee.