The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has thrown another spanner in the works by withdrawing all its staff seconded to the various teams working on education reforms with the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) in an open spat with the Ministry of Education (MoE).
In what would appear to be a direct declaration of war with MoE, TSC has pulled out its representatives from the Legal and Sessional Paper Committees, two crucial teams formed by CS Ezekiel Machogu to come up with a roadmap on the implementation of the recommendations of the PWPER report.
Education News has learnt that TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia wrote a strongly-worded protest letter to Machogu advising that it was withdrawing its members from the various committees as it had already rejected the recommendations of the controversial report.
A well-placed source at TSC confirmed last evening that indeed the Commission had taken the firm decision to withdraw its representatives from the committees after it became clear that MoE was not willing to entertain any changes to the controversial document.
“We decided to withdraw our staff from the implementation committees because we did not want to be seen to be sanctifying a document we had rejected as a Commission. The CS had also given a directive that the committees should desist from altering anything in the document but focus only on the implementation strategies,” said the officer.
He said that the TSC had severally sought the intervention of the Minister to allow for some amendments on the report before being forwarded for debate in parliament adding that their pleas fell on deaf ears hence the drastic move to pull out of the process.
Last week, in an unprecedented move, TSC appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Education and rejected the recommendations of the highly publicized PWPER report and called on MPs to subject it to thorough scrutiny.
The TSC led by Dr. Macharia argued that implementation of the recommendations in its current form would be a violation of the Constitution and would infringe on the independence of the Commission. They appealed to MPs to exercise their authority and throw away some clauses that appear to take away powers vested on the Commission by the Constitution and ensure its independence is protected.
Macharia said transferring the responsibility to determine entry standards of teaching service to the Ministry or any other body will amount to the usurpation of the constitutional mandate of the Commission.
On Monday this week, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (KUPPET) threw its weight behind the TSC and called on parliament not to allow ‘busy bodies’ to interfere with the Commission.
During the union’s Annual General Meeting in Nandi South, National Chairman Omboko Milemba and Secretary General Akelo Misori highlighted that some recommendations were introduced without seeking the input of education stakeholders regarding the management and supervision of teachers.
This not the first time the TSC and MOE have been in turf wars in the control of teacher management functions. The two institutions have been at loggerheads over the years on the supervision and training of teachers.
At one time, former CS, a frustrated Prof. George Magoha told a Parliamentary Committee on Education that it was only in Kenya that the Minister for Education did not have powers in the management of teachers. He asked parliament to look into the matter.
By Our Reporter
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