Kenyan teachers moved in mass transfer

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FILE | NATION Education Minister Sam Ongeri (left) with Teachers Service Commission secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni (right). 

By SAMUEL SIRINGI (ssiringi@ke.nationmedia.com)
Posted  Sunday, December 18  2011 at  22:30

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has carried out a reorganisation of schools resulting in the transfer, sacking or promotion of more than 300 principals.

Those affected will report to their new destinations next month in changes which the TSC boss Gabriel Lengoiboni said are intended to improve learning standards in secondary schools.

The highest number of changes was in the Rift Valley where 71 of the 334 teachers affected are serving. Eastern and Nyanza had 65 each, Western 53, Central 39, Coast 25, Nairobi 13 and North Eastern 3.

“They are based on our annual assessments and are not punitive at all. The changes are meant to help us address falling standards in schools and streamline school administration,” Mr Lengoiboni said.

There is a new policy of not transferring teachers in the middle of the year to avoid interfering with school programmes.

Mr Lengoiboni said some teachers were transferred because their schools had consistently performed poorly in national examinations.

“We move others on promotion after we are satisfied that their performance is excellent,” he said. Yet others, he said, had headed smaller schools and needed to be tried in managing bigger centres.

The transfers and deployments are also aimed at replacing head teachers who have retired and those who opted to step down voluntarily.

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Another category of teachers moved comprised those who have been in the same station for a long time. In some cases, the new head teachers will fill vacancies in new schools.

The transfers were based on consultations at provinces and at the TSC headquarters, Mr Lengoiboni said.

Some teachers who are designated as head teachers but have not been heading schools have also been given institutions to run.

Although Mr Lengoiboni declined to release the list of secondary schools affected, the Nation investigations established that heads of some well-known schools have moved.

In Nairobi, the head teacher of Jamhuri High School, Mr RM Wambugu, has been transferred to St Teresa’s Boys in the same region.

He will be replaced by the current head of Eastleigh DEB David Kilonzi. A TSC evaluation describes Mr Kilonzi as a seasoned principal who had maintained discipline at his former station.