- Hillary Muhalya says parents have a right to question school leadership when genuine concerns arise.
- He maintains that protests should focus on evidence and learner welfare rather than preferred leadership candidates.
- Appointment and deployment of public-school administrators should remain within TSC’s legal mandate.
A number of Kenyan schools have recently attracted public attention after parents and community members took to the roads protesting against school administrators, carrying twigs and placards and chanting “Haki Yetu” while demanding changes in school leadership.
Some protests may arise from genuine concerns about school management and learner welfare. Others, however, can be driven by a very different demand: that “one of our own” should be elevated to a leadership position, sometimes regardless of whether that individual meets the qualifications or requirements for the position.
That is where an important boundary needs to be drawn.
Parents have every right to raise concerns about their children’s education and to seek intervention when they believe something is wrong. Peaceful protest can also draw attention to grievances that have not received an adequate response.
But choosing who should occupy a professional teaching or administrative position is not a function of popularity, community pressure or ethnic, local or personal allegiance.
That responsibility belongs to the Teachers Service Commission within its constitutional and statutory mandate. TSC’s own policy on appointment and deployment of institutional administrators states that the Commission is mandated to appoint, promote, transfer and deploy teachers in public learning institutions and has established procedures for selecting institutional administrators based on required skills and competencies.
Parents and community members are not auditors, investigators, interview panels or appointing authorities. They can report concerns, provide information and ask that a matter be examined.
But they should not demand that a preferred individual be installed simply because he or she is “one of our own”.
A person may be popular in the community and still not meet the requirements for a particular leadership position. Conversely, an administrator who is unpopular may nevertheless be properly qualified and performing within the requirements of the position.
The distinction matters.
Separate grievances from appointments
Suppose a community campaigns for the removal of an administrator and insists that its preferred candidate should take over.
The relevant authorities subsequently verify the records and find that the allegations against the administrator were unfounded, or that the preferred candidate does not meet the applicable requirements.
What has the protest achieved?
The institution may have suffered reputational damage, relationships between parents and teachers may have deteriorated, and qualified professionals may become reluctant to accept deployment to a school where leadership disputes are routinely settled through public pressure.
The consequences ultimately fall on learners.
This is why grievances should be separated from leadership appointments.
If parents believe an administrator has mishandled school affairs, they should identify the specific concern, provide whatever evidence they have and ask the appropriate authority to examine it.
Where the issue concerns a teacher or administrator within TSC’s mandate, parents can raise the matter through the Commission’s structures. TSC maintains offices across all 47 counties and is responsible for teacher management, including transfers, professional misconduct and disciplinary matters.
Broader education and school-management concerns can also be taken through appropriate education and school governance channels.
If a protest is considered necessary, it should remain peaceful.
There should be no beating, threatening or humiliating teachers or administrators, destruction of property, intimidation of learners or deliberate disruption of teaching and examinations.
Kenya’s public-order framework provides for notification of public meetings and processions to the relevant regulating officer, with prescribed details including the organiser, date, time and proposed venue or route.
Most importantly, allegations should not be presented publicly as established facts before they have been verified.
Parents should also remember that a school is bigger than the administrator currently occupying the office.
Where leadership changes, the institution needs a safe and orderly handover covering records, assets, finances, ongoing projects, examinations and other responsibilities.
And if an administrator is cleared after the relevant records have been examined, that finding should be respected.
The same principle applies to the person whom a community wants promoted.
Being “one of our own” is not, by itself, a qualification for school leadership.
Parents should therefore ask themselves whether they are seeking better leadership or simply seeking their preferred person in the office.
There is a profound difference.
The “Haki Yetu” spirit should be about ensuring that learners receive quality education and that legitimate concerns are addressed, not about replacing professional appointment processes with community pressure.
So, before carrying twigs and placards, parents should ask: Is this about a genuine problem affecting learners, or are we simply trying to remove one person so that “one of our own” can take over?
If there is a problem, report it.
If there is evidence, submit it.
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If intervention is required, seek it from the appropriate authority.
But leave professional recruitment, appointment and deployment to the institution legally mandated to do that work.
Parents should be powerful advocates for their children, not substitute auditors, investigators or appointing authorities.
By Hillary Muhalya
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