Munavu Led Team Faulted over TSC Quality Assurance Role
The task force made one terrible error on which it based several dubious recommendations, notwithstanding all of its ground-breaking recommendations for educational reform, particularly with reference to the Competency-Based Curriculum.
It has been suggested that the parent ministry take over the Teachers Service Commission‘s (TSC) responsibilities for school quality assurance.
According to the study, Jogoo House had been in charge of school inspections even before the TSC was established as a constitutional authority, and the two bodies had been at odds over this responsibility ever since.
President William Ruto received the report on Tuesday from Raphael Munavu, the head of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, who noted that several stakeholders had raised concerns about how this alleged duplication of duties jeopardised efficiency in monitoring.
According to the report, “the majority of stakeholders pointed out that teachers’ CBC training was insufficient; the infrastructure and learning resources were inadequate; and the TSC and MoE’s parallel roles and structures jeopardised quality assurance.”
Conflicting mandate
The committee continued: “Transfer the Quality Assurance and Standards activities at TSC to the Ministry of Education to resolve overlapping mandate in Quality Assurance and Standards function in Basic Education. Strengthen the State Department of Basic Education’s Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards as well.
However, the TSC Act (Section 35) makes it clear that the commission’s mandate is restricted to upholding teaching standards with regard to courses for professional development, career advancement, and teacher registration.
According to section 35(2)(b) of this Act, “a teacher who fails to — (a) undertake a prescribed career and professional development programme; or (b) take out a teaching certificate shall be dealt with in accordance with the regulations.”
The Act also grants the commission the authority to hire, reprimand, and fire teachers, just like it does with every other employer.
Collins Oyuu, secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, and Raphael Munavu, chairman of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, give a press conference on November 16, 2022, at the union’s headquarters in Nairobi, which is located along Mfangano Street. [Standard, Edward Kiplimo]
The Commission may, following an investigation, cause the name of any person—who has passed away; who the Commission determines registered using fraudulent means; who has been convicted of a sexual offence or an offence against a student or pupil; who has been convicted of a criminal offence that, in the Commission’s opinion, renders the person unfit to be a teacher; who the Commission has directed should be removed—to be struck from the list of teachers.
According to the Act, this is what the TSC’s quality assurance division is all about.
Quality Control Division
The Basic Education Act (Section 64), on the other hand, gives the quality assurance department at Jogoo House B responsibility for upholding standards and maintaining quality in basic education institutions, administering basic education-related policies and guidelines, monitoring the administration of assessments and examinations in basic education institutions, and monitoring the implementation and delivery of curricula.
This is the point at which the Act drew the line. According to Section 66, “Quality Assurance and Standards Officers may- (a) at any time enter any basic education and training institution with or without notice to ensure compliance with education standards and regulations, require any person in charge of managing a basic educational institution to produce any timetable, syllabus, or record book, material, or document for his or her quality review; (ii) to provide the Quality Assurance and Standards Officers with any information necessary to carry out their duties;
Symbiotic connection
The perception of a confrontation between the TSC and the ministry is unfounded; there can only be a symbiotic relationship between them. The ministry works with actual teaching and learning, whereas TSC primarily deals with credentialism and discipline, therefore the so-called “sweeping” recommendation to have the TSC’s quality assurance section turn over its duties to Jogoo House is a damp squib.
Despite its knowledge and prominence, the working party’s error diminished the calibre of its study and, to a considerable extent, the overall authority of its report.
Munavu Led Team Faulted over TSC Quality Assurance Role
