TSC races to hear disciplinary cases facing teachers

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has dispatched its commissioners to six regions across the country for hearing of disciplinary cases against teachers as it races against time to conclude pending cases before the end of the year.

TSC received 1,000 cases of indiscipline among teachers this year with 600 being registered across the 47 counties while 400 cases were registered at the headquarters.

SEX

Majority of the cases relate to teachers having sex with their students both in primary and secondary schools.

The six commissioners and secretariat staff will hear 51 cases of teachers engaging in sex with learners and of corporal punishment.

The schedule sent to county TSC directors, which the Nation saw, indicates hearing will start today and end on Friday.

TSC regulations require cases to be heard within three months. The commission has so far handled 750 cases with 250 still pending.
“The regions to be covered are Coast, Eastern, Nyanza, Western, Rift Valley and Central,” reads the communication.

SIX MONTHS

On average, most cases are being determined within two to three months after decentralisation in handling of the cases.

Previously cases would take six months to even one year but now the Commission has committed to determine cases within six months as per service charter.

Cases of teachers having sex with their students in the country with TSC indicating 1,228 teachers have been sacked in the last seven years because of having sex with learners present a worrying scenario.

Some 1,077 teachers in secondary and primary schools were kicked out between 2010 and 2017, while another 151 were dismissed between last year and this year, according to TSC.

According to TSC chief executive officer Nancy Macharia many more cases go unreported because some cultures engender early marriages, while ignorant parents accept hush money from teachers or other school workers.

A report on teenage pregnancies before parliament this year showed that Kakamega County had the highest number of culprits, at 88.

PREGNANCIES

It was followed by Kisii with 61, Homa Bay (60), Kitui (53), Bungoma (47) and Siaya (46). Others are Wajir (1), West Pokot (3), Tana River (4), Nairobi (3), Mandera (1) and Mombasa (4).

However, Mrs Macharia said teachers were responsible for only two percent of pregnancies among learners, adding that local communities were more notorious for preying on schoolgirls.

The sexual harassment report is supported by another study by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), which raised a red flag about sexual harassment of learners aged 13 to 17 by teachers in 2016.

Last year, at least 10 girls gave birth while sitting their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations and several others while sitting the Form Four test.