Commission gets tough on reinstating teachers

THE Teaching Service Commission (TSC) has put a stop to reinstating teachers who have resigned because many have abused the system.
“The Teaching Service Commission has put a stop to accepting resigned teachers this year due to abuse on the re-admission of resigned teachers,” TSC chairman Baran Sori said.
This abuse was also revealed by the statistics from the Education Department’s Alesco payroll database from 2015 to this year on the number of teachers re-admitted.
In 2015, 1462 resigned teachers were accepted back in the teaching service. The following year, the number decreased to 257 and this year, only 37 former teachers were reinstated.
Sori said teachers who had resigned on medical grounds or have been convicted and wished to return after serving their term in prison would be accepted according to the provisions of the teaching service.
“In the past, the commission had allowed for re-admission because of a shortage of teachers. That was a move made the previous authorities but that provision has allowed for abuse and some teachers have made a mockery of this system,” he said.
“This commission reviewed the admissions and realised that there is no provision in the Teaching Service Act that allows for resigned teachers to come back into the teaching service. Applications for readmission are provided for in Section 94 (of the Act) and re-admission is specific to a convicted person.
“Meaning that if a teacher has committed an offense and is charged and convicted and served a term or is pardoned or for some reasons is released then it is the prerogative of the commission to apply Section 94 to consider re-admission.
“Re-admission was, therefore, applicable to convicted persons.”