The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has recently made significant changes to the promotion interview venues for primary school teachers, aiming to improve the process and address prior issues. This shift is a notable departure from the past, moving from regional to sub-district levels for conducting these interviews.
The primary goal behind this change is to streamline the promotion evaluation, specifically for teachers in grades C1 to C4. By decentralizing the interview locations, TSC aims to ensure a fair and transparent assessment.
These modifications were prompted by concerns raised during the previous promotion interviews, where errors in the process led to dissatisfaction among teachers. TSC CEO Nancy Macharia acknowledged these issues and pledged to rectify them. The announcement of filled promotion slots, which left many teachers with regret letters, sparked protests, emphasizing concerns about the selection criteria. Allegations of corruption and favoritism further questioned the integrity of the process.
To address these challenges, TSC has delegated the responsibility to Sub-District Directors for enhanced oversight in the upcoming interviews. This decentralization is intended to create a more localized and efficient assessment of teachers, aiming to prevent potential irregularities and align with merit-based promotion principles.
Currently, TSC is dealing with an unprecedented number of shortlisted teachers, especially in the C1 grade, competing for promotion interviews. The first phase of TSC talks is scheduled from December 4 to 15, 2023, covering primary school teachers. Subsequently, post-primary teachers will undergo interviews at the district level from January 3 to 16, 2024. This shift aims to provide a more personalized evaluation chaired by district principals.
Furthermore, TSC has outlined specific documentation requirements for these interviews, including original National ID cards, academic and professional certificates, appointment letters, exam results, and performance appraisal reports for 2020, 2021, and 2022.
In summary, these strategic changes by TSC demonstrate a commitment to a more transparent and efficient teacher promotion process. They aim to address past concerns, ensuring a fair evaluation of educators across different grades. The shift to sub-district interviews, enhanced oversight, and specific documentation requirements are steps towards improving the overall integrity and fairness of the promotion process.
These changes signify TSC’s responsiveness to feedback and a determination to foster a more equitable environment for teachers’ professional growth and recognition.
Why don’t the tsc just allow such teacher to automatically climb up to the next job groups without neccessarily going through the interviews like medical practitioners, defence forces and all others in the public service? Why is it that when it comes to teachers some are blocked from automatically joining the next job group. To me , I don’t feel that all civil servants including teachers should have a level group interms of remunerations and promotion.