TSC wants case challenging its authority to appoint school heads thrown out

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) wants a case challenging its authority to appoint headteachers dismissed.

A TSC lawyer told the court on Tuesday that the commission was mandated by the Constitution to manage teachers and engage in teaching service.

Accordingly, the TSC said its primary function and mandate includes the registration of trained teachers, recruitment, employment, deployment, promotion and assignment for service to public schools.

“To this end, the commission is alive to the authority conferred upon it by the Constitution. TSC is empowered to regulate the teaching profession and employ teachers for public service,” the TSC lawyer explained.

The application has been filed by a lobby group, Elimu Yetu, which is seeking orders to compel Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi to initiate a mechanism for appointing school managers or administrators, independently from the TSC.

The lobby also wants orders prohibiting the TSC from continuing with the appointment and deployment of school headteachers.

CONSULTATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS

The commission, however, said it identifies and deploys in consultation with the relevant stakeholders deserving teachers to administrative or higher administrative positions with the task of providing leadership.

“Therefore, Elimu Yetu’s interpretation of the law in this regard is inaccurate and unfounded,” explained the lawyer.

Prof Kaimenyi also denied claims by Elimu Yetu that he had failed to consult with the schools' boards of management to appoint qualified persons to manage resources in public schools.

“(The) TSC has not exceeded its mandate as provided in the Constitution since the mandate to recruit and employ teachers is vested on it,” added Prof Kaimenyi in his court papers.

Elimu Yetu claims that the TSC has, in excess of its mandate, taken up the role of appointing its own agents as heads of institutions in both primary and secondary schools as managers and administrators in contravention of the law.

SCHOOL PUBLIC RESOURCES

The lobby said the TSC has further attempted to make regulations that provide it with the powers to appoint headteachers and principals as managers of public resources in schools.

It said the resources belong to the people of Kenya and ought to be under the custody of the Education Cabinet secretary in trust on behalf of parents, pupils and students of Kenya.

Prof Kaimenyi, on the other hand, is alleged to have abdicated his role of managing the public resources of the schools as required by the Constitution.

The case will be heard on September 30.