Teachers push for seats on TSC board

Teachers have petitioned the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua to get seats on the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) board.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) are seeking to be allocated a slot or two when the three seats at the commission fall vacant next month.

A selection panel hires the TSC commissioners before a parliamentary approval and appointment by the President with special seats reserved for teachers.

Knut is pushing for a model akin to that of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) where seats are provided for lawyers and backed by the law.

“Teachers union should be allowed to nominate at least two commissioners to ensure that trade movement maximises interaction with TSC for the harmonious negotiation of terms,” said Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion in a July 15 letter to Mr Kinyua.

Mr Cleophas Tirop who was the TSC vice-chairman retired in April while two others — Salome Gichura and Saada Abdi Kontoma — are leaving next month.

They will exit after concluding their six-year-non-renewable terms, setting the stage for appointment of new commissioners.

The TSC will now be left with six commissioners who were appointed in March 2015 after a year of drama that saw several names rejected in the National Assembly.

“It is an anomaly of serious magnitude for teacher unions, being the main stakeholders at TSC and the brain box behind the formation of the commission in July 1967 and having a recognition agreement with TSC in 1968, not to be represented on the commission,” reads the letter.