Now Teachers Service Commission rejects Kaimenyi rules on hiring of principals
Headteachers during their annual meeting in Mombasa in 2014. A directive by the CS for Education requiring headteachers to account to him has sparked a legal dispute and attracted the wrath of unions. FILE PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA |
What you need to know:
- Teachers employer accuses CS of violating Constitution by ordering headteachers to report to him.
The Teachers Service Commission was on Tuesday on a collision course with its parent ministry after it declared that the new regulations placing headteachers under the Education Cabinet secretary are unconstitutional.
However, the CS, Prof Jacob Kaimenyi, said the rules were here to stay and criticised a teachers’ union that on Monday gave him seven days to reverse his order.
Prof Kaimenyi said he would not be held hostage by unions.
However, Mr Gabriel Lengoiboni, the TSC secretary, differed with the Cabinet secretary, saying the regulations contradicted the Constitution and laws that set up the commission.
He said the Constitution had given all the teacher management functions exclusively to the TSC.
“These functions include the responsibility to assign teachers employed by the commission for service in any public school or institution; promote and transfer teachers; exercise disciplinary control of teachers and terminate their employment. Further, the TSC is mandated to advise the national government on matters relating to the teaching profession.”
Mr Lengoiboni said he had written to Prof Kaimenyi, the Attorney-General, the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution and the Kenya Law Reform Commission, requesting an urgent meeting to resolve the issues raised by the CS’s new directives, which, among other things, give him the power to hire and fire headteachers of public schools.
“We are calling on all teachers, headteachers and principals and other stakeholders to be patient as the commission engages the relevant arms of government to arrive at an amicable solution to the issues raised,” Mr Lengoiboni said in a statement to the Nation.
Earlier in the day, Prof Kaimenyi had said that all players in education had been involved in developing the regulations aimed at streamlining the sector and there would be no turning back.
The new rules require school heads be under direct control of the Education Cabinet secretary.
BILLIONS OF SHILLINGS
Prof Kaimenyi said school heads receive billions of shillings from the government and must, therefore, be accountable for the money.
“The teachers have the authority to incur expenditure and given that they are under TSC, which is an independent commission, we must have a way to ensure they account for the resources that we allocate to schools,” he said.
On Monday, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) criticised the new directive and accused Prof Kaimenyi of overstepping his mandate.
“The Constitution clearly states that teachers are employees of the TSC and not the Ministry of Education,” said Mr Akello Misori, the Kuppet secretary-general.
And yesterday, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) also joined Kuppet in criticising the directive. Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion said Prof Kaimenyi should be sacked over the “high-handed manner in which he has been running the ministry”.
In a statement, Mr Sossion said the CS’s decision to gazette the Basic Education Regulations and School Fees Guidelines was in total disregard of protests from key players in education.
“The decision by the Cabinet secretary to unilaterally gazette the Basic Education Regulations against advice and warning from the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) is a confirmation of the arrogance that this Cabinet secretary has exhibited,” said Mr Sossion.
However, Prof Kaimenyi said the rules had the blessings of the AG, but said the CIC had no role in the matter.
Last week, CIC Chairman Charles Nyachae, in a letter to Knut which was copied to Prof Kaimenyi, warned that any purported publication of the proposed regulations before CIC, the office of the AG and the Kenya Law Reform Commission had finalised reviewing them would be a violation of the Constitution.
“Accordingly, the proposed regulations are subject to review by CIC before publication in exercise of constitutional mandate under Section 5(6) of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution,” said Mr Nyachae.
Meanwhile, Knut has asked TSC to explain why teachers’ pay for March was delayed by almost two weeks.
In a letter to TSC boss Gabriel Lengoiboni, Mr Sossion said some teachers suffered heavy penalties from loan financiers after they failed to meet their standing order deadlines.
