On its final the 12th Parliament Education Committee led by its Chairperson Ms Florence Mutua recommended that the TSC should continue to recognize and acknowledge higher qualifications obtained by teachers while in service.
The MPs stated that the promotions would be “in accordance with 1966 Unesco/ILO recommendations that codify intellectual rights of teachers who undertake and complete relevant in-service courses.”
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The commission discontinued automatic promotions based on Schemes of Service in 2014 and implemented Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) in 2016.
The MPs have also directed the teachers‘ union to submit budgetary estimates for the promotion of all eligible teachers in the financials budget for 2023/2024 for consideration by the National Assembly.
This is after a major fallout between the former Secretary General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers Mr. Wilson Sossion with the Teachers Service Commission after Sossion vehemently opposed the Career Progression Guidelines.
Tussles which saw Sossion unceremoniously ousted in what was seen as a TSC instigated move. This later led to the formation of the Kenya National Teacher Pressure Group (KNTPG) a splinter group that was equally against CPG which they claimed they are punitive. To silence the group its leaders were transferred to far flung areas.
Previously, primary school teachers who earned a diploma or a degree were automatically promoted to Job Groups K and L.. However TSC admits to have stopped the automatic promotions due to the large influx of teachers obtaining higher qualifications, which rendered the policy fiscally unsustainable.
In response the Commission claimed that since 2017, it has been deploying 1,000 primary school teachers with degrees to secondary schools yearly to address a teacher shortage in secondary schools.
The committee observed that some cadres of teachers were left out of the vertical progression used during the transition from SoS to CPGs and the conversion of job groups to salary scales.As a result, the MPs have recommended that such teachers be promoted.
