Teachers reject new push to make principals accounting officers for school resources

Kenya Secondary Schools Head Teachers Association Chairman John Awiti (left) with a colleague.

NAIROBI, KENYA: Teachers and their employer have opposed a proposal by the Ministry of Education to have secondary school principals act as the ministry’s accounting officers.

At the centre of the controversy is the proposal by the ministry to issue all secondary school heads with agency letters under the new operational guidelines for Boards of Management (BoM). This means that as agents of the ministry, school principals will now be accounting officers for the Ministry of Education.