How TSC deregistered teachers contradict education governance through private schools

The quiet return of deregistered teachers into classrooms through private schools exposes one of the most troubling contradictions in Kenya’s education governance. On paper, deregistration by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is the ultimate professional sanction, signalling that an individual is no longer fit to be entrusted with learners. In practice, however, deregistration often marks not the end of a teaching career, but merely a shift from public to private institutions. This reality weakens the authority of the regulator, endangers learners and hollows out the values the education system claims to uphold.

Deregistration is meant to serve two purposes: punishment for grave professional misconduct and protection of learners and the public interest. When TSC strikes a teacher off the register, it sends a strong message that certain actions are incompatible with the teaching profession. Yet that message loses its force the moment a deregistered teacher walks into a private school classroom and resumes teaching with little scrutiny. The law clearly states that teaching without registration is illegal and that employing an unregistered teacher is a criminal offence. The problem is not the absence of law, but the absence of consistent enforcement.

Private schools occupy a complicated space in Kenya’s education landscape. They are licensed and supervised by the Ministry of Education, while teachers are regulated by TSC. This split creates a grey zone where responsibility is diluted. Some private schools exploit this ambiguity, either through ignorance or deliberate disregard, by hiring teachers without verifying their registration status. In other cases, proprietors knowingly employ deregistered teachers because they are experienced, available and willing to work for lower pay. The market incentives are clear, but the ethical cost is enormous.

The danger is not merely procedural; it is deeply moral. A teacher deregistered for serious misconduct, including abuse, immoral behaviour or gross professional negligence, carries with them a history that should disqualify them from continued contact with learners. Allowing such individuals to quietly resurface in private schools amounts to institutional amnesia. It assumes that a change of employer erases past violations and that learners in private schools deserve less protection than those in public institutions. This is a profoundly unjust assumption.

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Under the Competency-Based Education, the risks are even greater. CBE places unprecedented trust in teachers as assessors, mentors, and shapers of values. Teachers are no longer judged only by how well they prepare learners for national examinations, but by how they nurture integrity, creativity, collaboration, and responsibility. When deregistered teachers are allowed back into classrooms, the credibility of school-based assessment is compromised. How can a system claim to be values-driven when it quietly tolerates the recycling of professionals deemed unfit to teach?

There is also a corrosive effect on the profession itself. Thousands of teachers adhere to ethical standards, often under difficult conditions, because they believe in the dignity of their calling. When they see colleagues who were disciplined for grave misconduct return to teaching through the back door, it sends a demoralising message. It suggests that integrity is optional, consequences are negotiable and professional discipline is unevenly applied. Over time, this erodes professional pride and weakens collective accountability.

Parents, too, are unwitting participants in this failure. Many assume that a licensed private school automatically employs registered teachers. Few have the tools or information to verify registration status, and fewer still imagine that a teacher once deemed unfit to teach could be standing before their children. The absence of a simple, publicly accessible verification system keeps parents in the dark and shields unethical practices from scrutiny.

The state bears significant responsibility for this loophole. Deregistration should not be a symbolic act confined to Gazette notices and internal records. It should trigger a coordinated response involving TSC, the Ministry of Education, and county education offices. Without routine inspections, shared databases, and real consequences for offending proprietors, deregistration becomes a hollow gesture. Laws that are not enforced do not deter; they merely decorate policy documents.

Critically, the burden of compliance should not fall only on teachers. Private school proprietors who employ unregistered or deregistered teachers must face serious sanctions, including fines, deregistration of schools, or withdrawal of licences. As long as penalties are light or rarely applied, the cost of breaking the law will remain lower than the cost of compliance. Accountability must extend beyond individuals to institutions that enable misconduct.

This issue also forces a broader reflection on equity in education. Learners in private schools are no less deserving of safety, professionalism, and ethical teaching than those in public schools. A system that allows deregistered teachers to cluster in poorly regulated spaces effectively creates a two-tier standard of protection. That is incompatible with the constitutional promise of quality education for all.

If deregistration does not end a teacher’s career across all sectors, then it fails as a deterrent. Worse still, it quietly transfers risk from the more regulated public system to private classrooms, where oversight is often weaker. Addressing this problem does not require new laws as much as political will, institutional cooperation, and moral clarity. Teaching is a profession built on trust. Once that trust is broken and formally withdrawn, society has a duty to ensure it is not casually restored through silence and loopholes.

By Ashford Kimani

Ashford teaches English and Literature in Gatundu North Sub-county and serves as Dean of Studies.