TSC officials boycott Ministry’s meetings over clash

Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi.

Senior staff at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) plan to boycott meetings called by the Ministry of Education, escalating the tension between the major players in the education sector.

The Standard has established that none of the 47 TSC county directors will attend today’s meeting convened by the ministry to discuss teachers’ training.

Sources familiar with the ongoing turf wars indicated that the TSC officials are angry at the ministry for discrediting the commission.

“It is unfortunate that the invitation letters came to us directly and not through our boss. This means that someone highly disrespects our chief executive officer and for that we shall not attend their meetings,” said one of the TSC directors.

The officers said issues to be discussed are currently their functions and are now being taken away by the ministry.

“How can you attend a meeting to discuss taking away your job? We cannot do that and we hope reason will prevail,” added the source.

A copy of the invitation letter to both the ministry and TSC county directors invited the officers to a dissemination forum for the In-Service Education and Training (Inset) Policy.

The letter seen by The Standard is tagged ‘Dissemination of Inset Policy’ and signed by acting Education Secretary Leah Rotich.

“The purpose of this letter is to invite you to attend the function, which will be held at Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) in Karen on 17th July 2014 starting 9am,” reads the invitation letter.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) yesterday said it was keenly watching the developments and will do all it takes to protect the teachers’ employer.

NEW POLICY

The invitation letter goes on to say that the new policy has been developed to co-ordinate and harmonise Inset in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

Previously, the provision has been carried out without harmonised policy to provide direction and this has had its challenges on the education sector.

The policy ostensibly seeks to strengthen Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and harmonisation of Inset.

Letters of correspondence between ministry and TSC officials reveal that both claim to have the powers to conduct teachers’ training, with each citing sections of the Basic Education Act.

The National Education Board was the first to contest the functions carried out by TSC in their letter to the Attorney General.

“The board’s attention has been drawn to the operations of the various agencies that play a role in the implementation of the constitutional provisions in the education sector,” reads part of the letter by board chairman Erustus Kiugu.

He accuses TSC of performing functions that are “overlapping and conflicting”.

Kiugu also contests the extent to which teacher discipline is conducted by TSC and notes that the County Education Boards have been left out of the critical decisions.

But what is generating heat is the capacity building of teachers that has been done by TSC under the TSC Act 2012.

This is what is subject to today’s meeting at CEMASTEA that TSC officers have said they will boycott.

In his letter, Kiugu quotes section 54 (i) and 66 (3) of the Basic Education Act, and notes that the TSC Act under section 35 (1) only mandates the teachers’ employer to take all necessary steps to ensure that persons in the teaching service comply with the teaching standards prescribed by the Commission.

This view is reflected in the document to be discussed today dubbed “Policy Framework for Teachers In-service Education and Training in Kenya”.

The document lays out various functions that it says: “...For the purposes of ensuring effective and efficient management of Inset at county level, the County Directors of Education (CDE) shall oversee the implementation of this policy in the county.”

CAUSE OF DISPUTES

Some of the ministry’s directors of education who spoke to The Standard yesterday said the function has been performed by TSC and has been a major cause of disputes between ministry and TSC staff in the counties.

A letter by TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni to Attorney General Githu Muigai, and seen by The Standard, says “the commission is mandated by the Constitution and statutes to deal with all issues of teacher management nationally. The Commission, as employer, has inherent mandate to ensure that teachers maintain and continuously improve skills relevant in the teaching profession through capacity building”.

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi says in the policy document that “despite the huge and enormous resources invested in continuous teacher professional development in Kenya, the initiatives have remained fragmented and uncoordinated”.

He says the trainings have not kept pace with the enormous changes in the education system and emerging issues.

Also adding to the meeting boycott by the TSC officials is the preparation of the policy document.

“If you look at the document, it has purely been prepared by ministry staff with total disregard of TSC and this is unacceptable,” said another TSC director who asked not to be named.

The document reads: “The entire writing process involved many experienced and a dedicated team of officials from the State Department of Education, development partners and teachers.”