BY FAITH NYAMAI / DAILY NATIO

Newly-recruited primary school teachers will be required to make a commitment to serve for at least five years in the counties where they are posted before they can seek a transfer to their preferred regions.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) released the TSC jobs guidelines even as it seeks to solve a staffing shortage in schools across the country, especially in North Eastern region.

TSC advertised vacancies for 8,672 teachers across the country in May. Of these, 7,672 are to be posted to secondary schools while 1,000 are for primary schools.

The new TSC jobs guidelines come at a time when teachers have been fleeing North Eastern counties such as Mandera, Garissa and Wajir citing insecurity.

There has also been pressure from leaders in the region for the government to recruit locals as untrained teachers.

TSC CEO Nancy Macharia said all applicants must be registered by the commission. “They should have a written commitment to serve in the county posted to for a minimum five-year period,” said Ms Macharia.

The TSC jobs guidelines are likely to attract criticism from teachers who, through their union, have been opposed to being posted away from their home counties. Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Wilson Sossion has been fighting against the posting of teachers to counties deemed to be unsafe.

Mr Sossion has also been on the forefront in the push to have untrained teachers recruited by the commission to deal with the staff shortage in North Eastern counties.

In March, TSC transferred 1,000 teachers from North Eastern counties after hundreds of them camped at the commission’s headquarters seeking to be moved.

In the guidelines, TSC county and sub-county directors are required to form panels, which will select candidates wishing to be employed.

The county directors are required to acquaint panel members with the relevant sections of Public Officer Ethics Act before the commencement of the selection.

At the sub-county level, the sub-county director will lead the panel as the chairperson, TSC sub-county human resource officer as the secretary and all zone curriculum support officers will become members of the panel.

At the county level, the county director will be the chairperson, deputy county director (human resource officer) and all sub-county directors will be members.

After the selection, the panels are required to present the County Merit List to the County Selection Panel for ratification and onward transmission to the TSC headquarters.

“The selection panel will be required to exercise the highest degree of transparency and accountability as stipulated in the current Public Officer Ethics Act and TSC Code of Conduct 2015,” said Ms Macharia.

Those without registration certificates, she said, must attach a printout of the online application/copy of the payment receipt of application for registration.

Applicants previously employed by the commission are required to provide details of their TSC number and reasons for the termination of their services before their consideration for employment. Ms Macharia, however, said preference will be given to applicants who were not previously employed by the commission.

The commission has also opened up the opportunity to applicants working in other government departments and who meet the requirements.