The Teachers Service Commission has, in a new directive, exempted teachers handling special units in regular schools from taking extra lessons in regular classes. According to Circular number 11/2024 dated August 14, 2024, TSC Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Nancy Macharia said the move is aimed at allowing teachers to focus on their core mandates.
Dr. Macharia pointed out that the previous system, in which teachers in special units had to teach regular classes as well, compromised the quality of education for learners with special needs. “It has come to the attention of the Commission that teachers allocated to those Special Units are also being assigned additional teaching responsibilities in regular classes. The practice, as it is, undermines the specialised support required by learners in Special Units and diminishes the overall objective of providing quality education to learners with Special and Unique needs,” she explained.
The regulation further forbids teachers deployed in Special Units from being deployed to teach extra lessons in regular classes. TSC Field Officers are directed to ensure full compliance.
On their part, Dr. Macharia further assured the Commission of its commitment to the recruitment and deployment of SNE-trained teachers in order to provide support to learners with various disabilities. Among these are mental handicaps, autism, physical handicaps, cerebral palsy, hearing and visual impairments, and deaf-blindness, among others.
This comes after the fact-finding mission by a team from TSC and another representing the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers, KUSNET, during a retreat in Naivasha on April 8, 2024. The agreement was on redeployment of the 6,000 SNE teachers following their request for transfer from regular to SNE institutions, and exemption from extra classes, now effected. The SNE section was opened at the TSC headquarters to address SNE teachers’ issues.