Kenya to demote teachers

Agency report

Beneficiary teacher of a recent promotion exercise in Kenya that was based on the career professional guidelines may be demoted to their original positions due to a court ruling that has suspended the promotion process.

According to the country’s Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Thursday, the affected teachers may be forced back to their old grade levels, adding that promotions will be suspended until after July 2020 when the current collective bargaining agreement lapses.

The Teachers Service Commission which returned to court Thursday seeking to have last week’s orders stopping the implementation of the guidelines halted, said suspending the performance management tools is an affront to public interest since it makes teachers unaccountable to anyone.

In a fresh suit filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court against the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), TSC wants the orders temporarily suspended.

“TSC herein is aggrieved by the judgment and is reasonably apprehensive that unless orders of stay of execution are immediately granted, the applicant shall be completely paralysed in executing its mandate under the Constitution,” the TSC boss Nancy Macharia said.

TSC argued that last week’s judgement violates the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act, which requires prudent use of public funds, as well as the right to education.