TSC Fires 50 Teachers Ahead of January School Reopening

A teacher and students inside a classroom at Kawangware Primary School, Nairobi, on October 5, 2015.
A teacher and students inside a classroom at Kawangware Primary School, Nairobi, on October 5, 2015.
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The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has dismissed 59 teachers from service as schools prepare for the January full resumption of learning.

This comes after the commission held virtual hearings for 177 cases that were pending since schools were ordered closed by the government back in March.

Out of the 59 dismissed 23 were new cases while 26 were reviews for various offences with TSC adopting the virtual hearing back in August.

A signpost showing Teachers Service Commission mandated with hiring teachers in Kenya.
A signpost showing the Teachers Service Commission office. TSC is mandated with hiring teachers in Kenya
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Among the offences that led to the teachers being dismissed include misappropriation of funds and other ordinary crimes.

The commission's Director of Field Services Mary Rotich welcomed the introduction of the virtual hearing that helped clear a backlog of cases.

"The hearing of discipline cases virtually was a milestone that supported dispensation of cases that had overstayed due to the Covid-19 containment measures that saw schedules for hearing cases face to face in the field for March up to June 2020 cancelled," she noted.

Following the hearing, 45 teachers had their earlier dismissal and removal from the teachers' registered upheld with 16 new ones dismissed and struck out of the register in October.

"We allow teachers to call their witnesses just like in face to face hearing. We give them the links just before the hearing begins and insist that they must show their faces during the entire hearing so that we may be sure we are dealing with the right person," said Beatrice Wababu, the commission's Head of Corporate Communications.

TSC is scheduled to hear 53 more cases to be conducted by the commissioners from Monday, November 23 to Friday, December 4.

From the hearing only three teachers had their dismissal waivered and interdiction revoked while six saw their suspension upheld with eight others suspended.

The commission back in October deregistered 30 teachers from different schools in the country in a Gazette Notice released on Friday, October 23, 2020.

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha at a school in Nyeri on October 28, 2020.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha at a school in Nyeri on October 28, 2020.
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