TSC Amendment Bill 2026: A Teacher’s Guide to the Proposed Changes

Your Job Under the New TSC Bill: What Changes and What Doesn’t

1. What this document is

• It is National Assembly Bill No. 64 of 2026, published in Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 232 on 11 September 2026. The National Assembly stamped it received on 29 September 2026.
• It is sponsored by the Majority Leader, Kimani Ichung’wah.
• It is a Bill, not yet law. It still has to go through committee review and public participation, readings in the National Assembly, and presidential assent. Teachers and unions can still submit views.
• It amends the TSC Act (Cap. 212) in 40 clauses and adds a new Fourth Schedule. Pages 2221 to 2241 reprint the existing sections being amended, so you can compare old and new wording.

Its stated aims are to regulate entry requirements for teachers, to regulate registration and employment, to provide for administration of institutions, and to create more disciplinary offences.

2. The changes that affect teachers most

A. You must keep earning your practising certificate (new s.35)

• Every registered teacher must undertake continuous professional development (CPD).
• The Commission issues a “practicing certificate” to a teacher who has done the CPD. This replaces the “teaching certificate” wording.
• A teacher who fails to do the prescribed CPD faces administrative action under the Regulations.
• The Bill does not say how much CPD is required or what the action is. That is left to regulations, so watch for them.

B. Performance appraisal with consequences (new s.35B)

• The TSC must set up a performance appraisal framework for all public teachers.
• Heads of institutions go on performance contracts and must oversee appraisal of their teachers.
• The TSC may use appraisal results to inform rewards, sanctions and identification of skills gaps.
• Appraisal is therefore linked to discipline as well as to development.

C. A new Institute of Teacher Support and Professional Development (s.35C)

It is established within the TSC. Its functions include:

• designing training resources
• inducting newly registered and employed teachers and interns
• offering CPD to all registered teachers
• training institutional administrators
• providing induction for board of management members and other agents of the Commission
• monitoring and evaluating in-service training

It is meant to be the delivery arm for the CPD that teachers will now be required to do.

D. Titles and administrators

• “Headteacher” and “principal” are replaced by “head of institution”. This covers the heads of Primary, Junior, Comprehensive and Senior Schools and Teacher Training Colleges.
• “Institutional administrator” is defined to include heads, deputy principals, deputy head teachers, deans, registrars, senior masters and senior teachers.
• The TSC gets an express function to appoint and deploy institutional administrators. It also gets the power to determine remuneration and benefits for its employees, subject to Articles 41(5) and 230 of the Constitution.
• “Employee” is defined to include teachers and secretariat staff employed by the Commission.

E. Staffing and promotion

• Staffing norms (s.35D): the TSC must develop staffing norms for “optimal utilization” of teachers. These may include ICT and “other innovative curriculum delivery methods”.
• Promotion (s.35E): promotions will be based on the approved establishment and availability of budget, guided by Article 232(1)(g) and regulations. Promotion is therefore explicitly tied to funds and posts.
• Decentralisation (new s.18A): the TSC may open offices at zonal, sub-county, county and regional levels. “Zone” is defined as a cluster of schools within a sub-county.

F. Terms of service and bargaining

• The old consultative committee on teachers’ terms and conditions (s.13(5) to (8)) is deleted.
• Instead, s.37 says the Commission determines terms and conditions for its employees. It is guided by advice from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (Article 230(4)). Where there are recognised unions, it must negotiate terms and conditions with them (Article 41(5)).
• Collective bargaining is therefore kept in law, but through direct negotiation rather than that committee.
• Teachers are also made subject to TSC terms, policies, guidelines and administrative circulars (s.35F(1)).

G. Discipline: the biggest area of change

New and expanded offences (replacement Third Schedule). The list now includes:

• Immoral behaviour with a learner, listed as sexual intercourse, sodomy, lesbianism, sexual harassment or flirtation, “love relationship”, exposure to pornography, and aiding immoral conduct.
• Professional misconduct: negligence of duty, chronic absenteeism, desertion, incitement, insubordination.
• Infamous conduct: drunkenness, fighting, vulgar and abusive language.
• Newer items: cyberbullying; submitting forged documents; falsifying official documents or data; mismanaging or embezzling public funds and violating procurement rules; exposing learners to or supplying them with illicit drugs; aiding an unregistered person to get a teaching job; theft of institutional property; giving false information to the Commission.
• “Engaging in other gainful employment while an employee of the Commission.” This has the most day-to-day impact for teachers who run side businesses or side jobs. “Gainful employment” is defined by reference to the Leadership and Integrity Act.
• Conviction for a criminal offence that makes you unfit to remain employed, and any other offence in written law or regulations.
• “Lateness to duty” appears in the current Third Schedule but not in the new list. Check the final text on this.

Process and penalties (s.35F):

• A teacher accused of a disciplinary offence must get a fair disciplinary process in line with the Employment Act and the regulations.
• A teacher on interdiction gets half basic salary plus applicable allowances, with an exception for desertion of duty. The wording on that exception is unclear.
• If found not culpable, the interdiction must be revoked.
• Penalties if found culpable: warning letter, surcharge, suspension of up to six months, cancellation of the registration certificate and removal from the register, retirement in the public interest, dismissal, or termination.

Teachers charged with a “serious offence” (s.35G):

• The TSC shall cause the teacher to vacate office from the date of the charge until the case concludes.
• The teacher gets half basic pay and full allowances in the meantime.
• If acquitted, discharged or the charge is dropped, the teacher is reinstated and withheld benefits are paid. If convicted, appropriate administrative action follows.
• “Serious offence” includes capital offences and also “other acts or omissions which grossly offend public policy and interest”. That second limb is broad and vague.

Removal from the register (s.33(3)). This can follow:

• immoral behaviour with a learner
• fraudulent registration
• conviction for a sexual offence or an offence against a learner or minor
• a conviction that makes you unfit
• impersonation or forged documents
• “any other act or conduct that is incompatible with the teaching profession”

H. New appeal route (ss.46A and 46B)

• A Teachers Service Review Committee is created, made up of three commissioners.
• Anyone aggrieved by a disciplinary decision can apply for review in writing within 90 days, with a prescribed fee.
• Grounds are:
  • new material facts that could not have been presented earlier
  • an error apparent on the record
  • a fundamental flaw in procedure
  • a breach of written law
• The Committee can uphold, vary or allow the review. Its decision is “final”.
• Separately, 46B says an aggrieved person may seek redress in the High Court or the Employment and Labour Relations Court.
• On paper, “final” and court access sit side by side. Expect debate on how they interact.

I. Entry into teaching: the Fourth Schedule

The Bill adds a schedule of minimum qualifications and repeals the old s.26. A person is eligible if they meet the Fourth Schedule and are of good moral character (s.23A). Highlights:

The registration rules also change in other ways:

• The TSC must review standards of education and training for entrants and may revise the qualifications from time to time.
• It must advise government on teacher demand and supply.
• The Bill also adds a function to develop and ensure compliance with teaching and performance standards.

Teachers already registered should check whether any transitional provisions apply. This Bill has none.

J. Registration, register and data

• Refusal to register is now tied to conduct “prejudicial to the safety and welfare of learners and teachers”. This replaces the old “peace, good order or good government” language.
• Medical unfitness must now be in the opinion of a registered medical practitioner.
• Removal notices may go by electronic means as well as registered mail.
• The TSC must publish annually the names of newly registered and reinstated teachers, with registration number and date. This differs from the old s.32, which published the full register with addresses and qualifications.
• The TSC must comply with the Data Protection Act. Information access is subject to limits and fees.

K. Offences and penalties (s.44)

Fines go up from KSh 100,000 to up to KSh 1 million, or up to 12 months’ imprisonment, or both, for:

• obtaining registration by false declarations
• holding yourself out as a registered teacher
• teaching or assisting to teach while not registered
• aiding someone to get registration by false pretence
• causing, permitting or employing an unregistered person to teach, which is relevant for school administrators
• tampering with the register

3. Governance changes (less direct, but important)

• Commission composition: two-thirds of members must have knowledge, skills and experience in education. Affirmative action (Articles 27 and 56) becomes a guiding principle.
• Appointment process:
  • The selection panel submits three names for chair and three per vacancy for members. Currently it submits 3 and 13.
  • The President nominates within seven days and forwards to the National Assembly.
  • A nominee from the Institute of Human Resource Management joins the panel, replacing the “prominent educationist” slot.
  • Panels must use technology.
• Disqualification: membership of a local authority no longer bars a person from the Commission.
• Powers:
  • It may act on general evidence and is not bound by strict rules of evidence.
  • It may issue summons and administer oaths.
  • It may review its own decisions.
  • It may accredit training institutions.
• Legal protection for the TSC:
  • Suits against it fall under the Government Proceedings Act.
  • It is not liable for criminal acts of its employees or agents (new s.22(3)).
• Finance: the TSC may open bank accounts. Annual estimates are approved by the Commission, then go to the Treasury CS and on to the National Assembly. An annual report is due within six months of year-end.
• Conflict of interest: declarations now cover children, business associates, agents and pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests.

4. Points to watch and possible problem areas

These are my observations on the text. They are not conclusions about how courts or Parliament will treat it.

1. Vagueness: “love relationship”, “flirtation”, “any other act incompatible with the profession” and the second limb of “serious offence” leave a lot to interpretation.
2. Vacating office on charge: s.35G removes a teacher from duty when charged, before any finding. It keeps half pay and full allowances, and reinstates if acquitted. Expect scrutiny of how this sits with fair-process principles.
3. “Final” review decisions versus open court access (ss.46A(7) and 46B).
4. Much is deferred to regulations: CPD requirements, appraisal rules, interdiction and administrative action procedures, and reinstatement procedure.
5. Promotion depends on budget and establishment, and the Bill does not say how this affects those already due.
6. Moonlighting is now a listed offence.
7. Fees for review applications are “prescribed”, and the Bill does not state them.
8. Drafting slips appear in the text. Examples are a marginal note referring to section “23B” for new s.23A, a clause 29 marginal note citing section 21, and repeated paragraph “(b)” labels in 46A(4). The Memorandum’s clause numbers from about clause 31 onward are off by one from the Bill (it calls the Fourth Schedule “clause 40” when it is clause 41). These may be corrected at committee stage.

5. What teachers can do now

• Read the Bill itself, especially clauses 28, 30 to 31, 38 to 41 and the Schedules.
• Submit views through your union (KNUT, KUPPET or others) and to the National Assembly’s departmental committee during public participation.
• Prepare for CPD and appraisal. Keep records of training and performance.
• Check whether any side income or business could fall under the “gainful employment” offence.
• Hold off on acting on rumours about “new rules”. Nothing here binds you until the Bill is passed and assented to, and regulations follow.