Basic Education Principal Secretary (PS) Jwan Julius announced drastic changes in school boards amid alleged interference by outside forces.
In a directive to county school heads, Jwan banned officials from the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) from sitting in schools’ boards.
The PS disclosed that the Education Ministry had discovered that having officers from MoE and TSC in school boards compromises service delivery in the learning institutions.
“It has been decided that employees of Ministry of Education and TSC shall not be nominated for appointment to Boards of Management (BoM),” read part of the letter by Jwan.
Notably, the ministry maintained the nomination of teachers’ representative and the head of school who is the secretary to BoM according to Section 56(1)(c) of the Basic Education Act.
Last year Education CS Prof George Magoha instructed all primary and secondary schools to start the process of replacing BoM members and present new nominees.
The CS told schools that the BoM members term was coming to an end at a time when the government discovered a breach of stipulated fees guidelines.
The directive was issued to clean up all school boards and get rid of members who had overstayed their roles.
MoE urged County Education Boards and BoM to collaborate and effect the necessary changes.
School boards comprise six persons elected to represent parents of the pupils in the school or local community in the case of county secondary schools.
One person gets nominated by the County Education Board, another one represents the teaching staff in the school – elected by the teachers – and three officials represent sponsors of the school.
One official is picked to represent special interest groups in the community, another represents persons with special needs and the students’ councils also have a representative who is an ex officio member.

These changes are good let’s give it a trial. The BOM will have some good freedom of expression. However, the H/T.s and Principals should be equal to the task and be knowledgeable. Otherwise they’ll be challenged.