A dispute over the promotion of junior secondary school teachers is headed to the Senate, with the Teachers Service Commission expected to explain why some qualified educators have reportedly been unable to submit their applications.
The matter was raised by nominated Senator Esther Okenyuri, who wants the Senate Committee on Education to establish whether thousands of teachers serving in junior secondary schools have been left out of the ongoing promotion exercise.
According to Okenyuri, the problem may be linked to the TSC online application platform, which she said does not recognise teachers deployed to junior secondary schools in the same way it does those serving in primary and secondary schools.
“Concerns have arisen that qualified teachers serving in Junior Secondary Schools have been excluded from the exercise because the online application system only recognises teachers deployed to primary and secondary schools,” Okenyuri said.
She has asked the Senate committee to determine whether JSS teachers are actually being prevented from seeking promotion and whether the arrangement being used by TSC follows the commission’s human resource policies and career progression guidelines.
The senator has also questioned how the commission decides which teachers can take part in the promotion process, particularly those who are currently deployed to junior secondary schools.
She wants TSC to clarify whether its existing promotion structure provides enough room for JSS teachers to progress in their careers alongside colleagues working at other levels of education.
Another issue Okenyuri wants addressed is whether TSC will make changes to both its promotion rules and the online platform to ensure qualified JSS teachers can submit their applications.
“Whether TSC intends to review the ongoing promotion framework and online application system to enable qualified JSS teachers to apply for promotional opportunities,” she said.
Okenyuri has further called for safeguards to ensure teachers are not treated differently when seeking promotion simply because of the institutions or education levels where they have been posted.
“The measures to ensure all qualified teachers, regardless of their level of deployment, have equitable access to promotion, professional development and career advancement opportunities,” Okenyuri said.
Her intervention comes against the background of concerns over the career growth of teachers working in junior secondary schools since the introduction of the competency-based curriculum.
Teachers were deployed to JSS after receiving additional training aimed at preparing them to support the implementation of the new education system.
Despite this, concerns have been raised that the promotion structure currently in use may not have fully addressed the position of teachers serving in the newer category of schools.
Okenyuri said meeting the required academic qualifications and performance standards should be enough for a teacher to seek promotion and that technical challenges on the TSC platform should not prevent eligible teachers from doing so.
She also wants the Senate committee to engage TSC and assess whether its promotion process is based on fairness, equal opportunity and merit.
The committee is expected to establish the extent of the reported problem and determine whether changes are needed to the promotion process.
It may also propose measures to ensure qualified JSS teachers are able to participate in future promotion exercises and that weaknesses affecting the online application system are corrected.