NAIROBI—Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is again in the spotlight for discrimination of Muslim teachers in its recruitment exercise.
In the latest exercise for recruitment of in- terns for secondary schools, the teachers’ employer has advertised 116 positions for Christian Religious Education (CRE) while only 11 teachers have been allocated for Islamic Religious Education (IRE) across the country.
In all, TSC has advertised a total of 1,995 internship posts including 1,038 for primary school tutors and 957 for secondary school teachers.
In the previous recruitment exercise for teachers in July, TSC advertised for more
than 6,000 tutors in public primary and secondary schools with 536 positions allocated to CRE teachers while a meagre 12 positions were earmarked for IRE teachers.
Speaking on Iqra FM’s Tangalizi show programme, Dr. Adam Khamis Mwamburi a lecturer at Umma University said TSC was being unfair to Muslims as he dispelled the notion that there are not enough teach- ers to teach the subject.
“We undertook a google survey of IRE teachers who are registered with TSC and from our findings, more than 200 qualified IRE teachers re- main unemployed. We should not be told that there is a shortage of IRE teachers,” he said.
He urged stakeholders in the Muslim education sector to take up the matter with TSC and other relevant authorities to ensure that there is fairness and justice in the recruitment of teachers.
“Our leaders need to take up this matter and give it the urgency it deserves. Our children are forced to learn CRE yet we have many IRE teachers being denied employment,” he said.
He said in many public schools across the country and even in schools with a large number of Muslim students, no efforts were being made to recruit IRE teachers. Most of the IRE teachers in public schools, Dr Adam said are employed by the Board of Management while the vast majority of CRE teachers were absorbed by TSC.
Dr. Adam said there was a deliberate policy of discrimination against IRE teachers observing that despite the incessant complaints, this matter was not being given due attention by TSC and the education ministry.
“When it comes to CRE, teachers are quickly allocated but when it comes to IRE, we are always being told that there are not teachers. In one school in Nairobi, an IRE teacher was transferred to another school where IRE is not being taught, students are now being taught CRE,” he said.
The lecturer said that there is a growing interest in students embracing IRE teacher training which is now being taught in various universities and higher educational institutions and there is a need to petition agencies such as the National Integration and Cohesion Commission and even to seek justice in the courts to ensure that Muslim students were given their due rights.
During the talk show programme on Iqra FM and various social media platforms, a number of people raised their concerns on what they said was the discrimination of Muslims by TSC and urged the Muslim leadership to take up the matter and ensure fairness.
According to the Muslim Education Council (MEC) executive director Munawar Khan, the council is seeking audience with TSC to follow up on an earlier meeting in April this year where Muslim leaders raised several concerns to the teachers’ employer.
In the current recruitment exercise, qualified candidates are required to apply for the fill the positions by submitting their applications online through the commission’s website www.tsc.go.ke or www.teacher- sonline.go.ke by September 27.
To qualify, applicants must be registered teachers with TSC, hold a P1 Certificate for primary school teachers and have a minimum of a diploma in Education Certificate for Secondary School teachers, have original academic and professional certificates and be ready to be posted to any public education institution.
Successful teachers who will be posted at the primary level will earn a monthly stipend of Sh15, 000 and those in secondary will be paid Sh20, 000.
