The task force on education reforms is now proposing that TSC hires nursery teachers, a function currently carried out by county governments.
However, it was discovered that the stakeholders were not provided with the interim report and instead received only hastily prepared presentations.
The main proposals indicate that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) may lose some authority if the recommendations of the education reforms committee’s final report are adopted.
Article 237 (1) of the constitution commission establishes TSC with the primary responsibility of recruiting, registering, employing, deploying, transferring, disciplining, and terminating teachers’ contracts.
However, the task force desires the establishment of a distinct body charged with regulating the teaching profession.
This means that TSC would only be responsible for human resource functions, ceding regulatory authority to a separate entity.
It was disclosed at the meeting that a change to the TSC’s powers would require a Parliament act or a referendum.
Understands that the Quality Assurance and Standards (QAS) functions currently performed by TSC will be standardized and centralized.
In order to avoid duplication, members of the task force were informed that TSC may also lose this responsibility as a result of new reforms.
TSC and the Ministry of Education have been at odds over these responsibilities, issuing contradictory directives at the county level.
The task force on education reforms held a meeting behind closed doors to validate their findings, prompting concerns about the public process.
The media were excluded from the affair that was intended to present the team’s interim report.
Invitations for Tuesday’s event at the Centre for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) referred to it as a “open forum.”
“Since its inception, the party has worked to attain its Terms of Reference as outlined in the Gazette Notice. According to Prof. Raphael Munavu’s invitation, a public forum has been convened to present the draft report to stakeholders for validation.
However, a confidential source at the meeting revealed that among the attendees were members of lawmakers, teachers’ unions and associations, religious leaders, and senior ministry officials.
In its interim report, the committee recommended reducing the employer’s authority over teachers, harmonizing quality assurance, and reducing the number of subjects for Junior Secondary students.
In addition to a revision of the capitation distribution plan, it was proposed to establish a TVET Commission that would be in charge of all human resource functions for middle-level college personnel.