Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) are increasingly becoming crucial officers within the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) ranks, following increased responsibilities handed to them in the new development. Unlike three years ago, the Commission has embarked on a trajectory that has seen the CSOs carry out duties equal to those of the Sub County Directors (SCDs). This has reduced the work backlog and increased data collection from the field.
Nestled between classroom teachers and the secretariat, CSOs have been added to manage Teachers’ Information Management Systems (TMIS). The officers have been given rights to access the TMIS of the schools under their jurisdictions and advise school administrators on crucial information about their schools. This has improved ascertaining the correct population of learners, teachers, and workloads.
Since the commission gave the CSOs the power to oversee them, the exit and entry of teachers in schools have become seamless. TSC embarked on a serious ICT integration of its operations, including transfers. Transfers in and out of the schools were solely the responsibility of the SCD’s office.
In the new dispensation, CSOs advise on transfers and ensure that the head teachers and principals enter or exit the affected teacher on the entry/exit module.
Unlike in the recent past, recruitment and promotional interviews of teachers have been decentralised. To hasten the process, the Commission has brought on board CSOs. They sit in the sub-county and sometimes county panels. This has seen the Commission carry out its activities within a very short time. Without SCDs, the officers are given powers to chair panels. Education News has learnt that the officers have stepped in to steer sub-counties without SCDs.
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Teacher management at the zonal level greatly depends on the availability of the curriculum support officers. By handing the CSOs more roles in teacher management, TSC has endeavoured to increase its autonomy and be felt in the field. Teachers, parents, and many education stakeholders are reported to have a greater feeling that their issues are best addressed and handled by the CSOs than by their supervisors.
“CSOs are on the ground; they understand the schools and the surrounding communities well. In fact, they can tell what happened in a school overnight,” agreed Fidel Onguso, a retired education officer from Trans Nzoia County.
TSC workshops and programmes at the county and sub-county levels have recently seen greater involvement of the CSOs. Owing to their experience in teaching and administrative roles, the Commission, teachers, and other stakeholders have found the officers to be reliable resources that can’t be wished away.
In many sub-counties, Education News has learnt that the Ministry of Education has always sought the intervention of CSOs in implementing its policies. “They are the engines of their sub-counties. Without them, operations in our sub-counties will halt,” agreed one SCD from the Central region.
As the former Teacher Advisory Centre officers, as they were known, continue to get more powers from the Commission, a clarion call has been made to the same employer to ensure CSOs are evaluated well in the ongoing job evaluation by the Salary Remuneration Commission (SRC).
Most of them view this as the surest way to make them implement the vision and mission of the commission with raised shoulders.
By Haron Otieno.
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