The Teachers Service Commission is set to be the biggest casualty of the proposed sector reforms with the Ministry of Education set to chip away its sole powers.
The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) has proposed that the Ministry of Education takes over key functions currently exclusively performed by TSC.
In the far-reaching policy proposals, the ministry will have a say in the transfer and promotion of teachers, a role that is at the core of the TSC mandate.
The proposal, it has emerged, was informed by the fact that while the ministry releases billions of shillings to schools, it has no influence over the fund managers who report directly to TSC.
This is because, school heads are designated TSC agents in learning institutions yet they superintend over the use of funds from the ministry as managers.
The net effect is that, if the draft proposals by PWPER are adopted in the final report, then TSC would lose significant human resource mandate.
The proposal makes headteachers answerable to the ministry, a departure from the current practice where they are accountable to TSC.
Under the proposals, school heads will be agents of the Ministry of Education as accountable and authorised officers.
The taskforce has concluded that TSC does not have the capacity to supervise financial management at schools and want the ministry to take over the function.
''Where there has been a case of mismanagement of funds or resources by a headteacher or principal, the Ministry of Education cannot hold the headteacher to account nor is he/she involved in their discipline,'' the draft report reads in part.
Over the and above, the ministry is also set to take over the role to retrain teachers.
As part of its mandate, TSC enjoys exclusive mandate to retrain tutors, asserting influence on over 300,000 teachers across the country.
However, under the proposals, the ministry will take over the career progression and professional development programmes.
The ministry will establish the Kenya School of Teacher Management (KeSTEM) as a corporate body to coordinate and regulate all in-service programmes for teachers.
In the proposals, TSC may also lose its exclusive powers to oversee disciplinary matter touching on teachers as that will be handled by an independent tribunal.
Aggrieved teachers, who have been processed by TSC over disciplinary cases, will have an opportunity for review at the ministry's Education Appeals Tribunal.
Currently, TSC handles appeals through an ad-hoc committee of the commission known as the Teachers Service Review Committee.
"The Act should provide that appeals of the decision of TSC be made at the Education Appeals Tribunal," the draft reports adds.
This means that TSC's powers as a regulator and employer will be significantly clipped with another independent body to be called as the Kenya Professional Teaching Standards (KePTS) set to be created.
The body will take over the regulatory mandate currently enjoyed by TSC.
At the same time, TSC will lose the quality assurance mandate to the ministry with the taskforce recommending that the ministry's team have powers to close institutions that contravene guidelines and policies.
The PWPER also proposes that TSC be clipped of its sole mandate of keeping teachers' records with the office of the data commissioner set to be incorporated.
In the far-reaching proposals, TSC will also share its procurement powers with the ministry especially on the teachers' medical scheme.