TSC clashes with Ministry of Education over establishment of regional centers

Supremacy battles between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) are set to escalate as the latter establishes eight regional centers to assess learners living with disabilities.

The program, which will be implemented with the support of the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) and other friendly stakeholders, will see the establishment of Education Assessment and Resource Centres (EARC) in eight regions of the country. This move is expected to catalyze a paradigm shift in the assessment of learners with special needs.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) is set to take over the assessment of learners with special needs from TSC. Under the new arrangement, EARC officers will be recruited, rendering the TSC Curriculum Support Officers for Special Needs (CSOs) effectively jobless.

This proposal is likely to face resistance from TSC, which believes that the responsibility for assessing learners with disabilities was vested in it by the 2010 Constitution. TSC may also feel that MoE is encroaching into teacher management, which falls squarely within TSC’s territory.

Currently, there are about 1,000 CSOs working with TSC across the country. They were deployed to oversee the assessment of learners with disabilities, a function that TSC took over.

It is worth noting that EARC centers existed in the 1990s and early 2000s but collapsed due to poor funding. The CSOs, who were then under MoE, ran the EARCs while also inspecting teachers’ work in the classroom. This may be an attempt by the Ministry to recall this function back under its jurisdiction.

TSC clashes with Ministry of Education over establishment of regional centers

Supremacy battles between the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) are set to escalate as the latter establishes eight regional centers to assess learners living with disabilities.

The program, which will be implemented with the support of the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) and other friendly stakeholders, will see the establishment of Education Assessment and Resource Centres (EARC) in eight regions of the country. This move is expected to catalyze a paradigm shift in the assessment of learners with special needs.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) is set to take over the assessment of learners with special needs from TSC. Under the new arrangement, EARC officers will be recruited, rendering the TSC Curriculum Support Officers for Special Needs (CSOs) effectively jobless.

This proposal is likely to face resistance from TSC, which believes that the responsibility for assessing learners with disabilities was vested in it by the 2010 Constitution. TSC may also feel that MoE is encroaching into teacher management, which falls squarely within TSC’s territory.

Currently, there are about 1,000 CSOs working with TSC across the country. They were deployed to oversee the assessment of learners with disabilities, a function that TSC took over.

It is worth noting that EARC centers existed in the 1990s and early 2000s but collapsed due to poor funding. The CSOs, who were then under MoE, ran the EARCs while also inspecting teachers’ work in the classroom. This may be an attempt by the Ministry to recall this function back under its jurisdiction.