The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is pushing for a radical legislative overhaul that would grant it unilateral powers to suspend, deregister, and discipline teachers, bypassing the Ministry of Education and sparking a fierce turf war.

The draft amendments to the Teachers Service Commission Act are not mere bureaucratic tweaks; they are a power grab designed to make the TSC the judge, jury, and executioner of the teaching profession. Under the guise of "professionalizing" the service, the Commission seeks to introduce new offences, including a broad and dangerously vague clause on acts that "grossly offend public policy."

This move fundamentally alters the balance of power in Kenya's education sector. By seeking to entrench these disciplinary powers in law, the TSC is insulating itself from court challenges that have previously overturned its decisions. The "So What" for the 300,000+ teachers in Kenya is immediate: your job security now rests entirely on the interpretation of a "misconduct" clause that has been significantly widened.

The New Offences

The draft Bill, presented to the National Assembly's Education Committee in Naivasha, introduces specific, hard-hitting offences.

• Sexual Exploitation: Explicitly codified as a career-ending offence, closing loopholes used by predators.
• Public Policy Clause: Teachers can be fired for actions deemed to "offend public policy," a phrase MPs warn could be abused to victimize unionists or whistleblowers.
• Decentralization: The TSC wants to legally mandate zonal offices, cementing its presence at the grassroots level—a move critics say adds unnecessary bureaucracy.

Parliamentary Pushback

Legislators have not taken this lying down. "If the amendments touch on all provisions, why not repeal the entire Act and start afresh?" asked Mandera South MP Abdul Haro. The concern is that the TSC is creating a parallel government within the education sector, independent of the Ministry's oversight. The clash is inevitable: The Ministry controls the schools, but the TSC owns the teachers.

The Disciplinary guillotine

Perhaps the most contentious proposal is the "Internal Review Committee" which would handle appeals before they can proceed to court. Lawyers argue this denies teachers immediate access to justice, forcing them through a TSC-controlled bottleneck before they can seek independent arbitration.

This draft law is a signal that the TSC is done negotiating. It wants absolute control. For the average teacher, the classroom is about to become a much strictly regulated—and potentially perilous—workplace.