Following the recent development of the 4 Teacher Policies for Sierra Leone, it was clear that teacher transfer over the years has seriously affected education, especially in remote communities across the country. One of the consultants for the policy development, Dr. Cream Wright stated during the recent launch of the policy that the TSC may at its sole discretion, initiate or consider an application for transfer where a teacher has served an institution or in a location for a period no less than 3 years, and the application of transfer is based on certified medical grounds, severe family related issues, urgent needs of the broader teaching service, or other circumstances to be determined by the Commission from time to time.
“Most times severe family related issues and that of urgent needs of the TSC seriously affect education with regards to teacher transfer including adequate accommodation in hard to reach communities for the transferred teacher.” President of the SLTU, Alhaji Mohamed Bangura noted that if the new policy is to be implemented well, the TSC in collaboration with the Ministry of Basic, Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) should rethink these two issues and put in place urgent measures to address them in order to encourage more teachers, especially those in the sciences, to transfer willingly, whether by the TSC or through an application from the teacher.
While developing one of the policies, consultants, representatives of the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU), and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) discovered that as a result of many reasons, decisions to change places of work by teachers have been a huge challenge, but with the new teacher management policy, the TSC retains the absolute right to transfer a teacher, subject to other clauses contained in the policy, regardless of whether the teacher requested the transfer or not. According to the Commission’s Chairperson, Staneala Beckley, “Where a teacher has requested a transfer, it is considered good practice for that teacher to have discussed the said transfer with the Head of Department and School Head, as appropriate, prior to submission of the transfer request to the TSC-DO or TSC-HQ.”
The teacher policy also states that a teacher who has served in one institution or a location for a period of more than 3 years may apply to the Commission to transfer from that school to another, with the presumption being in favour of allowing the transfer unless there are specific reasons to decline the request.
By Ade Campbell