School heads to answer to ministry in proposed law

School heads will now be answerable to the Ministry of Education over the management of billions of shillings in public funds under a proposed law that seeks to redefine the governance of public schools.

The proposed Basic Education Bill, 2025, will require principals and headteachers to serve as agents of the Ministry on financial management while remaining employees of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

The changes are expected to hand the Ministry direct legal control over school heads on accounting matters for the first time, ending years of complaints that it lacked powers to enforce accountability despite being responsible for disbursing capitation funds to schools.

Currently, the ministry can only investigate alleged misuse of public funds and forward its findings to the Teachers Service Commission for disciplinary action because school heads report to the Commission as their employer.

Under the proposed law, every head of a public school will continue to be appointed by the TSC but will also become the accounting officer and an agent of the Ministry responsible for basic education in managing the school.

The proposal is contained in the Basic Education Bill, 2025, which seeks to repeal the current Basic Education Act of 2013 and replace it with a new legal framework governing the management of the country's basic education sector.

The proposal will mark a landmark change after many years of turf wars between the Ministry of Education and the TSC; the Ministry is set to secure control over school heads in the new proposed bill.

Education Director General Elyas Abdi told Members of Parliament that the reforms were informed by recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms.

This was after the government established that several education laws enacted following the 2010 Constitution contained gaps, duplication of functions and operational inefficiencies.

"To be specific, they become agents of the Principal Secretary for Education on issues of accounting, the way Principal Secretaries are agents of the National Treasury on accounting issues and agents of the Public Service Commission on human resource issues," he said.

"This is the only country in the whole world where a Minister of Education is not in charge of teachers. Teachers are under a constitutional commission. This is something we need to really look at," Abdi added.

Abdi said the review was intended to address duplication, ambiguities, efficiency constraints and leakages within the legal framework governing the basic education sub-sector.

He told MPs that the Ministry was proposing to repeal the Basic Education Act, 2013, and replace it with a new Basic Education Bill to align the law with the current education system and constitutional requirements.

He told the committee that school heads would specifically become agents of the Ministry on issues of accounting in the same way principal secretaries serve as agents of the National Treasury on financial matters and agents of the Public Service Commission on human resource matters.

Abdi said the arrangement would enable the Ministry to effectively deal with school management challenges that have persisted under the current legal framework.

He said that once the law is implemented, the Ministry would have powers to withdraw the agency relationship where a school head fails in the management of a school, adding that the proposal would help resolve many of the disputes that have arisen over school finances and the imposition of illegal levies.

"Once this is implemented, if, for example, there is a problem with the head in terms of running the school, the Principal Secretary can withdraw the agency. In the process, all the issues we have been having here on incremental fees and all that will be resolved," Abdi said.

"At the moment, principals do not have a reporting structure to the Principal Secretary or to the Ministry," he said.

He told MPs that principals currently have no direct reporting structure to either the Principal Secretary or the Ministry despite the Ministry financing schools.

Abdi further said Kenya remains the only country where the Minister responsible for education is not directly in charge of teachers because they are managed by an independent constitutional commission.

The proposed law, however, stops short of changing the constitutional mandate of the Teachers Service Commission.

Instead, it creates a dual accountability framework under which school heads will continue serving as TSC employees while becoming directly accountable to the Ministry for financial management and administration of public resources.

The bill also proposes to abolish the National Education Board, with the Ministry arguing that the body duplicated the role of the Cabinet Secretary and had largely failed to function effectively after its establishment.

Abdi told MPs that the National Education Board had only operated for about three years and had never effectively worked because it duplicated the functions of the Cabinet Secretary.

The proposed law also seeks to strengthen collaboration between the national and county governments in delivering basic education by clearly defining their respective responsibilities.

While county governments will continue managing pre-primary education, the national government will retain responsibility over policy, curriculum, examinations and other national functions, with the Bill providing a framework for cooperation between the two levels of government.

And for the first time, the government seeks to recognise foreign education systems in law.

The Cabinet Secretary will be empowered to regulate the registration, licensing and quality assurance of institutions offering foreign curricula, including international education systems already operating in the country.

The Bill proposes that County Commissioners become chairpersons of the boards, replacing the current arrangement where chairpersons are appointed from the public.

Abdi said the proposal was informed by challenges experienced when handling sensitive decisions affecting schools.

He told MPs that giving County Commissioners the chairmanship would give the boards the authority of government and enable them to make timely decisions on issues such as school unrest and emergency situations.

The Ministry is also seeking to reduce the size of Boards of Management.

Abdi said the current boards comprise 17 members, making them expensive to run because schools have to meet sitting allowances and other operational costs.

He told MPs the proposal would reduce the membership to nine to lower administrative expenses while maintaining effective governance.

The Bill also reorganises the composition of Boards of Management for public schools and retains responsibility for managing school resources, advising on staffing needs, overseeing learner welfare and recruiting non-teaching staff.

In another major shift, the government wants to abolish the Education Standards and Quality Assurance Council and replace it with a Directorate of Schools Inspectorate.

Abdi said the proposal seeks to restore a stronger inspectorate system by giving inspectors wider enforcement powers.

He told MPs that inspectors would be authorised to enter learning institutions with or without prior notice and, where necessary, order the closure of schools that pose risks to learners after consultation with County Education Boards.