The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will terminate and will not renew contract for primary school headteachers who were deployed to act as Principals of Junior Secondary Schools (JSS).
The heads were issued with deployment letters to JSS early this year to signal beginning of their one year contract that runs upto 30th December 2023.
However new changes have emerged following a report that was released by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) and was unveiled by President William Ruto at State House last week.
In the recommendations which will be implemented within one year Nursery, Primary school, Junior School will now be one unit.
The single unit encompassing all the three levels will be known as Comprehensive School headed by a principal.
The principal will be assisted by teachers who will head nursery, primary and junior schools and they will be referred to deputy principals.
The Principal and his deputies must be graduate teachers holding at least a bachelors degree in education.
Currently majority of primary school headteachers are P1 teachers lacking degree but a good number having diplomas.
TSC did not look at the headteachers qualification during promotion, one was issued with deployment letter to JSS provided he/she had Grade 7 domiciled at the school.
Under the current guidelines, the headteachers are to head the JSS for an interim period that lapses on December 30, 2023.
There are more than 23,000 public primary schools in Kenya, most approved by the Ministry of Education to host JSS.
TSC and the ministry will be mandated to come up with guidelines on senior teachers who will work under the Principal.
Current headteachers who will not qualify for headship of the comprehensive schools will be demoted and are expected to be given lesser roles. They will, therefore, lose control of school operations and funds.
Some schools have been operating without substantive heads as the commission failed to attract applicants for the administrative positions.
The head of the comprehensive school will be the accounting officer of all the sections under it.
Equally to change is the composition of the school Board of Management (BOM).
For now, the JSSs are managed by an interim sub-committee drawn from the primary school BoM.
The PWPER also proposes that members of the BoM not exceed nine or 10. It says the current boards are bloated.
In another proposal, the heads of the comprehensive and senior secondary schools will be agents of the Ministry of Education and not the TSC.
Deployed and confirmed, the demotion.
Under what rules and regulations!!!
This is very wise step .I support it 100%.
No weapon shall prosper
Many head teachers have degreee if you are not aware watu wamesoma Masters and PhDs