I'll abolish delocalisation policy, Ruto tells teachers

The Kenya Kwanza government will abolish the teacher delocalisation policy if it wins the August 9 polls, DP William Ruto has said.

The delocalisation policy has faced opposition from the Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers since its inception in 2018. 

The DP said the program will be replaced with one that appreciates teachers as a national resource.

"And at the level of entry in employment, the nationalisation agenda will be implemented," he said.

He was speaking during Kenya Kwanza's Education Forum at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa on Thursday. 

The DP added that his administration will proactively support students from marginalised areas where teachers are inadequate.

"We will actively provide bursaries and opportunities for people in those areas, North Eastern included, to join our teaching institutions and colleges so that we can promote the number of teachers coming from those areas."

The Deputy President said this will ensure that the initiative of moving teachers from other areas to marginalised regions are given incentives.

"This will promote the national nature of our teachers so that we can remove the current distress that is facing families and teachers."

Further, the UDA presidential candidate said they will implement a minimum essential package for schools that have low enrollment to help improve access to education.

The teacher delocalisation programme began in January 2018 with major deployments in April, August and December of the same year.

In April 2019, TSC chief executive officer Nancy Macharia said only teachers married to their colleagues would be spared the transfers after concerns were raised that the transfers were tearing families apart. 

"In undertaking delocalisation, the TSC has a policy regarding what constitutes a teacher's family. The family refers to a teacher to teacher marriage," Macharia said when appearing before the National Assembly's Committee on Education on April 17, 2019.

So far, thousands of teachers and school principals have been transferred amid protests.

In March this year, former KNUT chairperson Wilson Sossion said the Kenya Kwanza administration would abolish delocalisation within three months of taking power if they win the August polls.