OPPORTUNITIES , PROGRESS AND OVERCOMING CHALLENGES IN EMPLOYMENT OF TEACHERS WITH DISABILITIES

A PAPER PRESENTED BY MR. GABRIEL K. LENGOIBONI,EBS, SECRETARY/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERTEACHERS SERVICE COMMISSIONON OPPORTUNITIES, PROGRESS AND OVERCOMING CHALLENGES IN EMPLOYMENT OF TEACHERS WITH DISABILITIES DURING THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DISABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY RIGHTS ON 27TH JUNE 2012

INTRODUCTION • Disability is not a minority concern. It is part of the Human condition influencing directly or indirectly to the life of hundreds of Millions of individuals in all parts of the world. • The Commission attaches great value to its over 269,060 workforce spread throughout the country, part of which are persons with disabilities. These; like other employees, have contributed a great deal to make the Commission one of the leading organizations in service delivery in the region. Needless to say, employees with disabilities face unique challenges in the course of meeting the demands of employment. These are diverse as the disabilities themselves and to a large extent affect their performance. It is noteworthy that the Commission has over the years, been one of few organizations employing Persons with Disabilities while many organizations shunned them. This goes to testify that the Commission has always desired to improve the welfare of PWDs even long before the Disability Act came into force in 2003. • As an employer we have encountered many forms of disabilities. There are those disabilities that employees have at the time of employment while others are caused by many forms of disasters that affect them in the course of duty.

KENYA CONSTITUTION • The Constitution of Kenya 2010 has mandated Teachers Service Commission to: • Register trained teachers • Recruit and employ registered teachers • Assign teachers employed by the Commission for service in any public school or institution • Promote and transfer teachers among others • To execute this mandate the Commission is guided by the following legal and regulatory framework;- • The Constitution of Kenya 2010 • The TSC Act. Cap 212

The Employment Act 2007 • The Persons with Disabilities Act 2003 • Code of Regulations for Teachers • Schemes of Service for Teachers • TSC Policy on Employees with Disabilities • Other legal and regulatory guidelines.

Rights of persons with disabilities are enshrined in various international instruments including the UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of opportunities, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Salamanca Statement on Inclusion. These instruments on disability seek to eliminate discriminatory practices by creating an enabling environment that enhances access to opportunities and services for persons with disabilities. The government domesticated these instruments and developed the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2003.

On compliance, the Commission has adhered to the UN Convention which state that:- • Persons with disabilities have equal rights to work and gain an adequate standard of living. • It observes the ILO Convention 159 of 1983 which emphasizes the fact that persons with disabilities have a right to decent work, social security and there is need for promotion of employment opportunities for them

In compliance with the provision of the persons with Disabilities Act 2003 the Commission developed its own policy on Employees with Disabilities. • The main objective of the policy is to provide equal opportunities between the persons with disabilities and those without. It seeks to establish social and economic independence for persons with disabilities through their own efforts and labour. • In helping persons with disabilities every effort has been made to enable them live in their own communities to support families and community groups who are working with them.

To date, the Commission has employed a total of 704 teachers with disabilities. Out of this total 474 are male and 230 female. The Secretariat has a total of 29 staff with 18 male and 11 female. In employment and promotion of teachers the Commission is guided by the principles of non-discrimination, equity and fairness. In deployment the guiding principle is where the services of the teacher are needed most but the welfare of teachers with disabilities is taken into consideration. Such teachers are deployed to areas with adequate accessibility.

Teachers with visual impairment (blind teachers) are paid Readers Allowance at the rate of Ksh.7,785/= per month. This is to enable them employ a reader for effective performance of duty

In enhancing the participation of the people living with disabilities the Commission has been encouraging more teachers to pursue studies in special education through provision of study leave with pay for those admitted to undergo training at all levels. This is aimed at facilitating rehabilitation of the affected persons both teachers and students to improve their participation in regular school and community services and activities.

The commission has complied with the Disability Act which provides that employees with disabilities are entitled to exemption from tax on all income accruing from their employment. To date the commission has effected 737 tax exemptions for teachers with disabilities in compliance with exemptions by Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)

CHALLENGES • When an employer brings in its employment a person with disability, it becomes easy to place that employee in an environment that they can fully function. However, one of the major challenges faced by the Commission is the deployment of an employee who gets disabilities in the course of employment. • Accessibility – Teachers with disabilities in rural areas are not able to access our advertisements for recruitment and promotion. This denies them an opportunity to apply and compete with the rest of the applicants. • Some teachers with disabilities have a wrong attitude towards themselves because they have self pity, feel inadequate and not acceptable. This may lead to under performance of their duties and may also affect their performance during promotion interviews.

In some instances, teachers with disabilities fear change hence are reluctant to apply for recruitment and promotion fearing transfer outside their perceived comfort zones. • Some teachers with disabilities shy away from co-curricullar activities though they have the abilities for the same. • Disability unfriendly infrastructure has posed a challenge in deploying teachers with disabilities to schools where their services are needed most. There is also lack of equipment specially designed for teachers with disabilities e.g., Braille and Computers • The Community’s negative attitude towards persons with disabilities is likely to undermine the performance of teachers with disabilities and hamper their career growth. In some instances during recruitment, persons with disabilities are left out by TSC agents in contravention of recruitment guidelines which provide for equal opportunities to all applicants. The Commission has always intervened in such cases.

Some teachers do not declare their disabilities on application for employment forms for fear of being disqualified on grounds of disability. This has posed a challenge to the Commission having adequate and comprehensive records on teachers with disabilities.

MITIGATION • The Commission has put in place the following strategies to mitigate against the challenges. • The registration form has been re-designed to capture the nature, type and severity of the disability. • In recruitment the Commission will ensure that all employees are given equal opportunities. Secondary school teachers with one teaching subject and special education have been recruited. • The Commission shall endeavor to deploy employees with disabilities to positions and status that enhances their performance and will be sensitive to transfer request from employees with disabilities. • The Commission will encourage employees with disabilities to apply for positions of responsibility.

On remuneration the Commission will consider to pay allowances necessary for effective performance of duty e.g. readers allowance and special duty allowance. • On workplace environment the Commission will endeavor to make its premises and other facilities comply with the requirement of the Act. • The Commission will undertake to support employees who get disabilities in the course of duty by facilitating access to rehabilitation programmes by granting them leave of absence to attend such programmes. • To ease communication the Commission will endeavor to modify the various forms of communication to accommodate employees with various terms of disabilities e.g. have some information in Braille.

WAY FORWARD • The Commission shall endeavor to do the following: • Observe the five percent rule in the employment of persons with disabilities. • Sensitize TSC County Directors and Board of Governors on persons with disabilities matters. • Continue disability mainstreaming efforts in the entire Commission. • Maintain the partnership with the National Council for Persons with Disabilities with the view of adequately addressing matters of persons with disabilities.

THANK YOU!

OPPORTUNITIES , PROGRESS AND OVERCOMING CHALLENGES IN EMPLOYMENT OF TEACHERS WITH DISABILITIES