By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
Government is to recruit 2,800 (Two Thousand, Eight Hundred) Teachers nationwide after it was revealed that the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) through the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) is to submit a list of 680 teachers due for retirement this year.
The Executive Secretary of the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), Sorie Ibrahim Turay on the 20th July 2023 made the disclosure in an interview with Politico.
He said owing to the fact that the commission does not want a disruption to the school calendar, it has got government approval for a yearly retirement programme for teachers. He said the district education secretaries have compiled the disaggregated data at the district level so that those teachers can be replaced.
“In August when they go out, we expect the new cohort of teachers to go into the payroll to replace them by the 1st of September 2023,” he said.
The TSC Executive Secretary told Politico that the retirement of all the 680 teachers will take effect on the 31st August 2023 and it is anticipated that they will be paid their gratuities together with their final month salary on the 31st August 2023.
“The retirement letters of these teachers were dispatched to their schools early in the year and they are expected to complete the retirement forms and submit them to the TSC Offices in their respective districts,” he said.
He however stated that there is concession for teachers that are teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Mathematics (STEAM) subjects who on their own volition may want to extend their services until they reach 65 years. He added that they would reject teachers who may want to falsify being STEAM teachers, saying it is mandatory that teachers produce certificates to show that they have been trained to teach the aforementioned subjects.
Turay said teachers make up 40% of the entire government payroll and since 2018; over five thousand of them have been placed on the proper pay scale. He said over three hundred School Heads have been regularized and 1,000 (one thousand) teachers recruited in 2021, making up a teacher workforce of 36,509 (thirty-six thousand, five hundred and nine) on the government payroll.
He added that over 500 Principals and Vice Principals have been appointed between August 2020 and November 2021, some of whom had previously served in an acting capacity.
On allegations of teachers demanding monies from parents, the Executive Secretary noted that parents never complained to the commission of such incidences and that they only hear those complaints when they are having meetings. He said they have a whole department in the commission for investigating such issues, noting that when teachers flout their code of conduct, there are consequences.
Copyright © Politico (21/07/23)
