The TSC (Teachers Service Commission) has started deployment of practicing PTE (Primary Teachers Education) teachers to secondary schools.
This comes after TSC officials involved the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT).
TSC Chief Executive Officer, Nancy Macharia said that with the Competency-based curriculum in place, additional teachers will be deployed to Junior Secondary.
Knut Secretary General, Mr. Collins Oyuu said that the deployment process has been ongoing.
‘‘The process of deployment started long ago. It has been an ongoing process in readiness for the next year’s Junior Secondary transition,’’ said Oyuu.
TSC issued Nairobi County with five deployment letters, while Kilifi, Kiambu, Makueni, Embu, and Kajiado counties received three each. Nakuru County received two.
TSC set targets for teachers’ qualifications to be deployed to teach in Junior Secondary schools.
TSC added that it will offer training to the teachers who will be deployed to Junior secondary.
The commission did not advertise for the deployment posts this year, instead, it used a generated merit list from previous applications in past years to deploy the PTE teachers.
In the years 2019 and 2020, TSC advertised 1,000 deployment posts in a bid to fill the teachers’ deficit, observing that the teachers will help in supporting the 100 percent transition from primary to secondary schools.
TSC uses deployment as a way of promotion for primary school teachers, who have furthered their studies.
Members of Parliament had asked TSC to allow teachers with a KCSE mean grade of C plain or lower, those who had attained a diploma, postgraduate diploma, and degree from accredited learning institutions to be promoted.
Though, TSC elevated a threshold for those instructors who wish to work in Junior Secondary.
On top of being a Kenyan Citizen, a successful applicant must be a holder of a P1 certificate, and a bachelor’s Degree holder in education with two teaching subjects.
Furthermore, having a degree for secondary option, the deployed teachers must also have at least C+ in KCSE and at least C+ in the two teaching subjects and must be serving under TSC.
However, strange to many, there is a segment of primary school teachers, who joined universities to study degree secondary options, but they only had a C (plain) mean grade in their KCSE exams.
During their time, universities including the University of Nairobi, Kenyatta, Pwani, and Mount Kenya registered students with a mean grade of C (plain) in KCSE so long as they had a PTE certificate.
Those deployed start at job grade C2 with a basic salary scale of Sh34,955 and Sh43,694 at a maximum per month. They also enjoy a commuter allowance of Sh5,000, a house allowance of Sh7,500 for those who are not in any municipality, and a leave allowance of Sh6,000 paid annually.
Those in hardship zones earn an additional hardship allowance of Sh10,900.
Also, will move to job grade C3 upon completion of three years as stipulated in Career Progression Guidelines for teachers (CPG).