As is the tradition every end of year, the Teachers Service Commission is a hive of activity with staffers poring over thousands of personnel files and forms to sort out promotions, recruitment and transfers before the new school calendar begins next week.
But while these are principally routine exercises, they stoke fear and anxiety among thousands of headteachers and their deputies who must report to new work stations away from their homes and counties as the TSC forges ahead with a new policy that it calls delocalisation of school management.
The policy, according to the TSC, is meant to promote coexistence and cohesion among communities as well as engender an appreciation of Kenya’s various cultures, regions and languages.
The policy is prudent in the sense that those working in the public service sector must be ready to work in any part of the republic where their services are needed.
It also ensures that schools do not turn into ethnic bastions with no appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism.
Headteachers and their deputies are trained in universities and colleges that are melting pots of cultures and languages and it would be injudicious if they were to retreat to their homes to teach only those who speak, look and live like them.
In any case, the Constitution is clear that public institutions must observe ethnic diversity to promote social harmony and end hostilities based on ethnicity.
However, headteachers have a good reason to be anxious because, if these transfers are not carried out prudently and fairly with due consideration to peculiar situations such as health, marital status, age and such like issues, they may end up being punitive and counterproductive.
Though the TSC has pledged to ensure fairness and quick resolution of appeals, the sheer numbers of individuals involved in the transfers gives room for costly errors and the possibility of corruption, where headteachers buy appointments to big and reputable schools or bribe officials to move teachers that they don’t like to faraway work stations.
More than 3,000 teachers were moved last December alone.
To avoid such eventualities, the TSC must conduct these transfers transparently and ensure that the process of appeal is clearly understood by all those affected and that it is quick and just.
Due consideration must be given to teachers nearing retirement, those with health issues and couples. New recruits are the ideal candidates for deployment to all corners of the republic.
Professionalism will dispel anxiety and fear among the teachers.
Unless managed well, delocalisation can turn into disgruntlement and disillusionment and the ultimate loser will be the learner.
