Mandera South MP, Abdul Haro During a press brief in Parliament
Mandera South MP, Abdul Haro seeks to amend the Teachers Service Commission Act of 2012, targeting to entrench fairness in the acting positions under the commission conferring the appointments in a structured manner.
The Amendment Bill has undergone first reading in the National Assembly which is introducing provisions for various allowances that the Commission may grant to teachers in addition to their basic salaries.
Abdul’s Bill includes a new clause in Section, 32A, which specifically addresses acting appointments stipulating that the commission may appoint a teacher in an acting capacity for a period ranging from at least thirty days to a maximum of six months provided the teacher meets all prescribed qualifications.
While addressing Press on Wednesday 2nd April shortly after tabling the motion, Abdul sought to amend the act that has been silent on how teachers are promoted while leaving others in acting capacity.
‘’We want to streamline and harmonize how teachers are promoted. The public service act is very explicitly on an officer can hold acting capacity. It should be not more than six months before appointed as substantive office holder or someone more superior is appointed.’’ Haro said.
The first term legislator now wants teachers in acting capacity to serve between 30 days to 60 days before assuming the office or substantive school administrator is appointed
In addition, the bill points that teacher appointed in an acting role will be entitled to a special duty allowance and can only hold one acting position at a time.
The MP is rallying the other legislators who’s their schools have experience such mistreatments to support his bill unanimously so that it can be read second reading and eventually sail through the third reading to become an act of parliament
According to the legislator, the act will save brain drains of school heads that have been borne over the years through opaque nature of teacher promotions by their commission which stands unquestionable
While underscoring the importance of harmonizing the promotions, the MP noted that there are other areas facing challenges of teacher learner ratio.
‘’There are areas with 101 per cent of teachers while others have only 30 or 50 per cent of teachers. Some schools don’t have teachers at all and depend on board of management and these are some of issues we need to come up with the policy how we can help standardize teacher rationing in our education systems in our country,” Abdul added.
The MP sought support from all education stakeholders and parents through public participation so that he can address the perennial gap once and for all. The Bill is set to proceed to the Education Committee for public participation and stakeholder engagement.