Term limit for school heads awaits Parliament approval
Education Cabinet secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi. In new regulations awaiting Parliament's approval, he will have powers to appoint school heads and principals as his agents and dismiss them if they fail to perform. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
They will serve a first term of five years, and will be eligible for reappointment for a second and final third of similar periods cumulatively.
The Education minister will have powers to appoint school heads and principals as his agents and dismiss them if they fail to perform.
The school heads will also be team leaders for the implementation of the ministry’s policies and programs in the institution and also will be the primary initiators of policy proposals for consideration by the County Education Board and the Cabinet secretary.
Schools' heads and principal will now serve for a maximum period of 15 years as leaders of their institutions if the proposed Basic Education Regulations, 2014 are approved by Parliament.
They will serve a first term of five years, and will be eligible for reappointment for a second and final third of similar periods cumulatively, and no person will hold the position for more than 15 years.
The new regulations, which have been prepared by the government as per the Basic Education Act number 14 of 2013, now give the Cabinet Secretary for Education power to control and punish school heads who mismanage the institution resources.
The Education minister will have powers to appoint school heads and principals as his agents and dismiss them if they fail to perform.
A teacher will be required to have served for a minimum period of 20 years as a lead educator appointed by the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) and have also undergone at least a six-week course in education administration or its equivalent in the past three years to be appointed as a head or principal of an institution.
“The Cabinet Secretary shall delegate the management of a public institution of basic education and training to a person in writing as an agent. The agency confers to the person so appointed the powers to perform the following: be the accounting officer and the lead educator,” states the regulations.
The school heads will also be team leaders for the implementation of the ministry’s policies and programs in the institution and also will be the primary initiators of policy proposals for consideration by the County Education Board and the Cabinet secretary.
“Where the head teacher or principal of the institution has been interdicted or dismissed by the employer, the head teacher ceases to be the officer accounting for the institution. The Cabinet Secretary shall immediately appoint a replacement,” proposes the regulations.
The ministry argues that schools’ heads and principals normally manage funds on behalf of the government and therefore they should be accountable to the ministry on utilisation of the resources at their disposal.
Those to be appointed as an agent will have to be a practicing teacher registered with the TSC, a serving quality assurance, education, curriculum development, curriculum evaluator or assessor.
Stakeholders in the education sector were to meet Tuesday with Education CS Prof Jacob Kaimenyi to validate the proposals but the meeting was postponed after they requested for more time to familiarise themselves with the proposals.
The regulations also give a school’s board of management powers to make a report to the relevant County Education Board Committee of any shortfall in teaching staff in the school at any one time.
“If the Boards of Management concerns will not have been addressed within 21 days, the Board of Management through the County Education Board shall seek authority from Teachers’ Service Commission to implement either multiple grade or multiple shift strategies in the school,” proposes the regulations.
The board of management has also been given powers to hire teachers on contract basis to address shortages in schools once TSC fails to act on their recommendations.
TSC will also be required to give priority to Board of Management-employed teachers during the recruitment of teachers, and those teachers will have demonstrated commitment to serve as teachers for duration not less than one year.
The proposals have already been opposed by Kenya Union of Post Primary education teachers’ national chairman Omboko Milemba.
Mr Milemba said that TSC is mandated by the constitution to hire and fire teachers and therefore they will not accept the Cabinet secretary for education to take such powers.
“Those are misplaced proposals and we will not accept them at all. Prof Kaimenyi should keep of the management teachers and leave it to TSC,” he said.
TSC is empowered by the Constitution to register trained teachers, recruit and employ them, as well as assign the educators it has employed for service in any public school or institution.
The Commission also promotes and transfer teachers, exercises disciplinary control and staffing of its county offices.
