The End of Holiday Tuition, TSC’s Legal War on Shadow Education, Forced Professionalism
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is launching a decisive legal offensive against the persistent culture of “shadow education” in Kenya. Within the framework of the Teachers Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Commission has explicitly codified the facilitation of unauthorized holiday tuition and the withholding of student documents as major professional offenses. This move signals a departure from mere policy circulars to a rigid legislative reality where teachers found conducting extra classes during school breaks could face immediate interdiction and permanent loss of their teaching licenses.
Dismantling the Tuition Cartels
For years, despite numerous bans by the Ministry of Education, holiday tuition has thrived as a lucrative side-hustle for educators, often putting immense financial pressure on parents. The new Bill classifies this as a breach of professional ethics. By elevating this to a statutory offense, the TSC is empowering its field officers to conduct “sting operations” and summarily discipline teachers who defy the ban. The Commission argues that learners require adequate rest to maintain mental health and that the curriculum is designed to be completed within the standard school term.
Protecting the Rights of the Learner
Another critical focus of the draft law is the protection of academic certificates and examination results. A common practice in many schools has been the “holding hostage” of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results or certificates due to unpaid school fees. The TSC Amendment Bill 2024 seeks to criminalize this behavior among school heads. Under the proposed law, any administrator who prevents a student from accessing their academic records as a debt-collection tactic will be deemed “errant” and subject to severe disciplinary measures, including demotion and deregistration.
The Mandatory Training Mandate
In addition to punitive measures, the Bill introduces the Institute of Teacher Support and Professional Development. This body will be responsible for the compulsory “re-tooling” of teachers to align with modern pedagogical standards like the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). Professionalism is no longer being treated as a static achievement but as a continuous requirement. Teachers who fail to undergo these mandatory certifications will find themselves locked out of promotions and, eventually, ineligible for continued registration.
A Professional Reset
This legislative push represents a “professional reset” for the Kenyan educator. By targeting financial exploitation through tuition and administrative bullying through the withholding of certificates, the TSC is attempting to clean up the image of the teaching service. While some argue that these measures are too harsh, the Commission maintains that restoring the integrity of public education requires a zero-tolerance approach to any activity that prioritizes profit over the welfare of the child.
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