Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and teachers have been again involved in the latest confrontation after new regulations to administer their conduct have been recently implemented. This argument between the government and the teachers is considered the most threatening and the major one in Kenya history.
On June 20, 2017, the Teachers Service Commission issued new regulations and guidelines. They are directly intended to determine how teachers should conduct themselves and deliver services.
According to the new regulations, as Tuko informs after teachers leave the service, their prosperity must be checked to settle whether it is genuine.
Moreover, new guidelines require that all teachers must be registered and licensed. After finishing a permanent professional development program, teachers also must renew their qualification. If a teacher either refuses or fails to do this, he/she will be terminated from the further service.
The government has also prohibited teachers to be involved in any political activities. So, from now teachers cannot compete for any legislative seat or be agents of political parties.
Alongside with this, teachers will not be able to let students go before six a. m or after 12 p. m. except for any emergency.
All regulations mentioned above and many others immediately caused a storm of indignation from teachers. They say unanimously that the government has started to crash their constitutional rights vigorously.
On Monday conference in Mombasa, the leaders of teachers unions discharged all the new guidelines. Teachers declared that they would never obey them. Moreover, Dan Aloo, KNUT executive council member, emphasized that teachers were not criminals and they also had constitutional rights.
This major stand-off between the teachers and the Teachers Service Commission is the second one. In 2015, both sides did not manage to agree on a salary increase. Two years ago, teachers started a month-long strike to stand for their rights in all public schools in Kenya. It was the longest strike in country`s history. It was stopped only with the help of the court. Since that time, the continued opposition between the teachers and their employer, TSC, has started.