By Jibril Adan

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has admitted some of its officers are corrupt.

But TSC chairman Ibrahim Hussein cautioned teachers against the vice, which is rife especially at the headquarters in Nairobi.

"That is why all staff at TSC have name tags," he said, and added: "Corruption is two way. Don’t give bribes."

Earlier, Nominated MP Njoki Ndung’u said many teachers suspected of having abused students have not been punished.

She said the number of cases in court involving teachers do not correspond with the number of reported cases.

She said: "We hear so many cases of teachers who have defiled or impregnated their pupils."

Corresponding charge

The chairman reiterated that no teacher found to have sexually exploited a student would be forgiven.

TSC usually interdicts teachers found guilty of the offence.

"For every interdiction there must be a corresponding charge in court," Mr Hussein said.

At the same time, Hussein said harmonisation of salaries of head teachers with that of civil servants would see some earning as much as Sh23,000 and more.

"Those in job group N will get Sh6,000 more while those in Job group P will get additional Sh13,000," he said.

Those in Job group R will get Sh23,000.

"That is just the basic salary, more benefits will come," he said amid applause from the principals.

employ interns

The chairman also said the Government would employ 13,000 interns to ease the burden on parents in some schools who have to pay temporary teachers.

"We will employ intern teachers and they will have the first priority when vacancies arise," he said.

He told principals and teachers to be conversant with their terms of service before they complain to the commission about issues like promotion.

Secondary schools have a shortage of 22,000 teachers while primary schools have a shortfall of 45,000.

The Kenya Secondary School Heads Association met at Wildwaters in Mombasa for their annual conference.

The annual meet gives teachers the opportunity to discuss issues affecting national secondary schools, the education system and teachers.

This week, the principals discussed challenges facing curriculum implementation, reviewed whether the education system is creating productive citizens and the performance of schools in KCSE.