MPs drag feet over teachers' commission bill

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Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda

 The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Bill 2015 was tabled yesterday in the National Assembly and had all signs of being endorsed but until the House proceedings closed it was not.

 

The development comes but a day after the MPs endorsed three controversial Acts, the Petroleum Bill 2015, Oil and Gas Revenue Management Bill 2015 as well as the Tanzania Extractive Industry (Transparency and Accountability) Bill 2015, all in the absence of opposition MPs.

 

 If endorsed, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Act 2015 will empower the Commission to serve as the appointing authority responsible for hiring and administering the welfare of teachers.

 

Among other responsibilities, the Commission will be tasked to handle procedures by which salaries, allowances and pension are paid.

 

In his speech, read on his behalf by Education and Vocational Training Minister Dr Shukuru Kawambwa, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said the commission shall be under the Prime Minister’s Office.

 

“TSC shall appoint, promote and discipline teachers,” the PM said.

 

“It will ensure equitable deployment and distribution of teachers among and within local governments and schools,” he added.

 

He said TSC is also expected to play a supervisory role since it has been vested with powers to take disciplinary measures against primary and secondary school teachers, advice the minister on various issues related to their profession and also to conduct related research.

 

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Services, Margaret Sitta (CCM) applauded the government’s move and advised the government to give the Commission even more powers.

 

She faulted the current system citing that teachers’ welfares are handled by three different authorities in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Public Servants Commission and the office of the Prime Minister (Regional Administration and Local Government).

 

She went on to urge that, more than the formalities of paying the salaries, the Commission should be allowed to handle the actual payment of salaries.

“We have established this body to take care of teachers’ welfare, I don’t see why it should not be mandated to pay salaries,” she argued.

 

Winding up the legislator’s contribution to the Act, Minister of State, President’s Office, (Public Service Management) Celina Kombani declined the request insisting that teacher’s salaries will continue to be paid by the government.

 

“The commission is just an appointing authority…salaries will be paid by the government,” she said.

 

Special Seats MP Magreth Mkanga called on the government to create better working environment for teachers with disabilities especially those sight impairment. 

She said blind teachers must be provided with Braille papers and typewriters. She also advised that they shouldn’t be allocated to remote areas.

 

Bariadi East Member of Parliament, John Cheyo (UDP) urged the government to create an environment that will facilitate teachers to work in rural areas. He said despite having a good number of teachers in various districts, most of them are likely to shift due to absence of social services and better houses.

 

Commenting on Section 17 (1) of the Act which prohibits disclosure of information to unauthorised persons stating; “No member, officer of the Commission or any other person shall without the written permission of the Minister, publish or disclose to any unauthorised person or otherwise than in the cause of duty, the contents of any document, communication or information of any kind which has come to his knowledge in the cause of performance of functions under the Act.”

 

 It states that any person who will publish or communicate information about TSC will be liable to a fine of not less than five hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term of twelve months or both.

 

On the other hand, reached for comments, Tanzania Teachers Union (TTU) president Gratian Mukoba said the Act will not help teachers because it is not among the demands that teachers have been asking for, for a long time now.

 

 “The endorsed law will not be useful to us because it has not responded to our demands among which is to have a single employer,” he said citing that teachers are now answerable to Regional administration and local governments and the Ministry of Education and Vocational training as well.

 

“The situation has created contradictions among teachers because they fail to understand where they can take the problems they face,” he said.

 

He explained in order to have quality education; the government should identify single employer of the teachers.

 

Recently, when addressing teachers during the Fifth Tanzania Teachers’ Union (TTU) General Meeting, President Jakaya Kikwete promised to resolve all teachers’ grievances before the October General Election.

 

 “I promise to work on all the demands that can be solved within my tenure of office...I will ensure that the next President will carry on from where I had stopped. This means regardless of who will be in charge, teachers will remain the priority,” he promised them.