MOE VS TSC tussle intensifies ahead of school reopen.
The Teachers Service Commission TSC is embroiled in a superiority war with the Ministry of Education ahead of school reopening.
The MOE has intensified its scramble to claw powers back from TSC ahead.
MOE VS TSC tussle
Earlier in August the Presidential Education Taskforce report had recommended clipping of commission powers which is said to be against the Constitution of Kenya 2010.
The Ministry of Education seeks to regain powers to manage schools through County Directors of Education CDE, if the recommendations by the task force on education reforms go through.
The move is aimed at empowering the ministry, which, if successful, would also take charge of Quality Assurance and Standards in all Education Centre.
Although the Ministry of Education is, according to 2010 Constitution mandated under the National Education Quality Assurance and Standards Framework for Basic Education Institutions (Neqasf) to supervise management and quality assurance in schools, the role is being done by TSC, which has led to friction between the two bodies.
The new move would witness the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) being confined to management of human resources; teachers and their professional development.
The fight between TSC and the Education ministry began way back in 2012 when the then TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni revoked the powers of then Provincial Directors of Education and District Education Officers, which was at that time under the Ministry, from managing teachers.
Through TSC Act (Cap 212) and Legal Notice No. 95 of 171, Mr Lengoiboni stripped all PDEs and DEOs of powers to manage teachers’ affairs.
The raft move was aimed at entrenching TSC as a constitutional commission.
TSC has since put in place County Directors of Education (CDE), structures that effectively replaced the old order.
The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, which was chaired by Raphael Munavu, made far-reaching proposals that include clipping TSC of powers to manage the daily operations of schools, as well as quality assurance.
If the task force succeeds, it will see the Ministry of Education regain full control on school heads, contrary to the constitutional provision that mandates TSC with an exclusive mandate to recruit, remunerate and discipline all government employed teachers.
Sources privy to the report told K47 digital news that members of the task force have recommended the implementation of a mode similar to that of the relationship between Public Service Commission (PSC) and Ministries, where the former recruits and remunerates while the latter has the sole prerogative of management.
