Transfer requests for 21,544 delocalized teachers will be processed by the Teachers Service Commission.
To avoid learning disruptions, the Commission will approve regional and interregional transfer requests in April and issue letters in May.
This week, it was revealed that Nairobi City County is the most popular region for teachers seeking transfers.
According to a document presented by TSC to the Senate Committee on Education, 36,277 teachers asked for transfers between November 1 last year and January 31 this year.
According to TSC, 14,733 teachers were matched and authorized, while 21,544 are pending.
According to TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia, the transfer of teachers from one institution to another is driven by the need for equitable distribution and optimal utilization of teachers.
Transfers are also contingent on the station’s availability of vacancies, the need for replacement, current staffing requirements, and medical grounds certified by a registered medical practitioner.
According to the document signed on Macharia’s behalf by the Director of Legal, Labor, and Industrial Relations, Cavin Anyuor, not all teachers applied to be transferred to their home counties.
“Some transfer requests are for transfers other than home counties. As an employer, the commission cannot dictate to a teacher to apply to be transferred to a particular county. Similarly, the commission cannot decline a transfer request simply because a teacher hasn’t applied to be taken to his home county,” the document reads in part.
The teachers’ union also cautioned against misinterpreting the reversal of the delocalization policy to indicate that teachers must now teach not only in their home counties but also in their villages.
According to TSC, if the commission relocates every teacher to their home counties, regions that have not produced enough teachers will face understaffing.
“….Those that have excess teachers would be overstaffed, leading to wastage of resources,” TSC said, adding that Arid and semi-arid areas as well as the hard-to-staff areas would mostly be the victims.
The TSC also ruled that before granting a transfer request, the commission must first check that the station where the teacher is going has a suitable substitute and that there is a vacancy in the requested station.
TSC is adopting the delocalization policy in response to the government’s decision to assign teachers to their home counties.
The commission’s data given to the Senate also revealed that the majority of teachers chose to work in Nairobi City County.
Transfer Requests as per County
- 1,885 teachers applied to be transferred to the capital city while 76 requested to be transferred out of Nairobi.Some 41 requests out of 1,162 to primary schools and four to secondary schools out of 723 were approved by TSC by end of January. 45 primary school teachers left the capital while only one secondary school teacher left.
- Bungoma county received the highest number of transfer requests by primary school teachers who wanted to move in at 1,336 teachers.The number of those who wanted to be transferred out of Bungoma County stood at 1,074 teachers.
- Mombasa County is also a favourite among secondary school teachers, with 340 applying to move to the Coastal City against 55 who asked to be moved out.
- Kajiado County also emerged as one of the most preferred counties after receiving 237 transfer requests for teachers in secondary schools against 94 who requested to be transferred out of the county.For primary school teachers, 486 applied to work in the county against 434 who asked to be taken elsewhere.
