Education Ministry is intending to make major changes to the law that may see it seize the role of managing public schools from headteachers.
The ministry is pushing for the Basic Education Act amended to redefine a ‘manager’ in far-reaching moves that may definitely see it employ a new set of persons to manage schools.
Sources at Jogoo House reveals that the ministry is annoyed for not being in charge of teachers who manage infrastructure and the safety of learners in school.
Further, the Ministry lacks control of more than 30,000 school heads in public schools, which collect billions of capitation funds yearly from the state.
The progress is likely to spark a new storm between the ministry and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) if the recommended managers take over the administration of schools.
In the recommendation, a manager will mean a person who has been ‘appointed by the Cabinet secretary to oversee the management of education resources and implementation of policies and guidelines in basic education institutions.’
Under the Act, a manager is defined as a person who has been appointed by the Cabinet secretary in consultation with the proprietor through regulations to coordinate and oversee implementation of education policies and guidelines in non-public basic education institutions and performs delegated teacher management functions.’
The proposed interpretation means the ministry is contending to hire new personalities to manage schools, as the meaning of a principal remains unchanged.
The 2020 Amendment Bill is awaiting debate in parliament with records indicating a major education stakeholders meeting will be called next week to address the matter.
If enacted, the law will take away management roles from school heads and the ministry will hire new staff to manage the immense monetary resources under the custody of schools, including infrastructure and administration of learners.
The review is clinched on the fact that there’s no recommended change to the description of a ‘principal’ as is presently stated in the Act.
Under the Act, a principal has the meaning assigned to it under the TSC Act. This indicates that secondary school heads will still be hired, promoted and restrained by TSC.
TSC states that it is mandated in law to recruit and manage all teachers under government staff.
While appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee, CS George Magoha hinted at a strategy to take control of schools and teachers.
Magoha asked legislatures to re-look into the existing law that does not enable his office to be in charge of teachers. He informed the MPs that in the entire country, he is the only one managing an education ministry that does not have authority over teachers.
“We are the only ministry in the region that is not in charge of teachers. We are the only sector head that is not in charge of teachers.” Magoha said. “It is about time you think about it because everybody thinks I am in charge of teachers. I have left the wisdom to you.” He added
