The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) approved the applications for mass transfers of teachers across different counties, a few days before schools reopen on Monday, January 23.
Reports indicated that the commission's boss, Nancy Macharia gave the green light to comply with the deadline issued by the National Assembly's committee on education to reverse the delocalization policy whereby teachers were posted away from their homes.
The TSC boss instructed the commission's secretary and all regional directors to ensure a smooth process and facilitate the teachers to settle before schools reopened.
Out of 14, 613 approved teachers' applications, 10,934 will affect primary teachers while 1,984 headteachers and 189 deputy head teachers will also be transferred in the exercise.
In addition, 1,316 secondary tutors and 226 high school principals will be transferred.
One key factor considered in the mass transfer includes the gender balance, age, health as well as disability status of the tutors.
The exercise is the first mass transfer conducted by the TSC after the pandemic, which saw the process halted indefinitely.
The delocalization policy saw teachers who were transferred to different counties expected to serve at least three years in Northern Eastern regions and five years in other regions before requesting a transfer to the commission.
The policy received mixed reactions from the various education stakeholders as the majority opined that transferring tutors hurts the basic structure of the family.
The National Assembly, on November 3, 2022, unanimously approved a motion on the Review of Teacher Deployment Policy, challenging the policy allowing TSC to deploy teachers away from their homes.
The committee gave the commission until the end of January 2023 to allow teachers to serve in their own capacity.
