The Teachers Service Commission, TSC, is mandated with the responsibility of disciplining teachers. Before a teacher is disciplined, due process must be followed to, indeed, confirm that he/ she is culpable.
A number of offences can lead to a teacher’s interdiction. Read them here.
The TSC interdiction and disciplinary process
The process of interdicting and disciplining a teacher is quite elaborate, see below;
Reporting a misconduct:
Any allegations of misconduct against a teacher are reported to any of the following: the TSC Secretary, the County Director, the head of institution/ head teacher/ Principal, the Board of Management Secretary or any government law enforcing agency e.g the EACC and Police.
The report may be made through writing or verbally
Investigating the allegations:
Upon receiving the report on the allegations, the TSC carries out investigations; directly or through its agents like: the BOM, Head of institution or the County Director.
Interdiction process:
If the investigations reveal glaring gross misconducts, the TSC or BOM serves the teacher with a letter of interdiction specifying the actual allegations against the teacher. (Ensure that you inform and involve your trade union as they may come in-handy during the whole process).
Proceeding for interdiction:
The interdicted teacher or head of institution must clear and leave the educational institution within 48 hours (2 days) upon receiving the letter of interdiction.
Salary status during interdiction:
An interdicted teacher shall be paid half salary during the period of interdiction except if the interdiction is due to: Chronic absenteeism, desertion of duty, having been jailed or held in legal custody, misappropriation or mismanagement of public funds, fraudulent claims and funds receipt, use of false certificates, Forgery, impersonation, collusion and immoral behaviour.
Reporting status of interdicted teacher:
An interdicted teacher shall be required to report to the Teachers Service Commission’s nearest Sub-County office once a month. This is done in order to ascertain progress of discipline case and to provide an updated contact address.
Invitation to appear before a disciplinary panel:
An interdicted teacher shall receive official written communication for the hearing of the discipline case at least a month before the date of hearing.
The communication is done through: the teacher’s last known address, the address of the teacher’s next of kin, hand delivery, the last station of work (before interdiction) through the head of institution and the permanent address provided by the teacher at recruitment.
TSC can also make a telephone call to the teacher, send an email to the teacher, an SMS to the teacher’s phone number and the TSC’s website.
Composition of the Disciplinary Panel:
Administration of a disciplinary process shall be either at the County offices of Commission’s head quarters.
The panel shall consist of: A TSC’s represemntative (Chair), 2 directors, An officer from division dealing with matters touching on the discipline(EACC, Children’s,)
Powers of the disciplinary panel:
Administer oaths, invite witnesses, require the teacher to produce identification and professional documents, inform teacher of offence committed and allowing such a teacher to give defense, examine witness and allow the teacher to cross examine witnesses.
Determination of a discipline case:
TSC shall, within 28 days after hearing date, inform the teacher of its decision regarding the disciplinary case and give adequate reasons for decision arrived at.
Administering disciplinary action:
The TSC, after hearing the disciplinary case, may determine that:
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- the teacher is not guilty of the offence and shall revoke the interdiction.
- a teacher has committed an offence that does not warrant removal from the register and may: warn the teacher in writing, surcharge the teacher, suspend the teacher for a period not exceeding 6 months without pay, retire the teacher in the public interest, dismiss the teacher from the teaching service, refer the teacher for medical evaluation to determine suitability of the teacher to continue executing teaching services.
- a teacher is guilty of the offence and his name be removed from the register.
This is a head start for you. Such that if by any chance you find yourself on the receiving end, you will at-least have a rough idea of the next course of action to be taken.
Also, familiarize yourself with the TSC code and other regulations.
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