IN SHORT: The Teachers Service Commission has denied that there are plans to demote headteachers without degrees. The article circulating on social media is fake.
An article making the rounds on Facebook says that Kenya's Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will demote headteachers who do not have a university degree.
According to the article dated 18 August 2023, the TSC is now engaged in a “comprehensive data collection exercise” that will ask primary school headteachers about their highest educational qualification.
The article claims that the impending demotions are in line with forthcoming reforms to the country's education system. The claims form the basis of social media posts, including here and here.
The TSC, an independent constitutional body, is Kenya's largest employer.
In June 2023, a presidential task force made far-reaching recommendations on education, including the management of pre-primary, primary and secondary schools as a single institution.
But has the TSC really announced that it will demote non-graduate headteachers, likely to cause a lot of anxiety in schools?
Proposal rejected, fake article
In July 2023, the Kenya National Union of Teachers rejected a proposal by the presidential working party on education reforms to demote primary school headteachers who do not have degrees.
The union urged the task force to give the headteachers more time to complete their degrees, saying the proposal was an unfair labour practice.
But it was down to the TSC to dismiss the circulating report.
"We would like to inform the public to disregard this fake article being circulated on social media," the TSC wrote on its verified Facebook page.
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