The Teachers Service Commission is mandated by the constitution as an independent body to manage human personnel or resources in the education sector in Kenya.
They set policies and guidelines that govern the education sector. They appoint teachers on the basis of merit and have the right to remove or deregister teachers on various grounds.
Teachers Service Commissions work closely with other bodies in the field of education.
Among them are teachers’ unions. We have two major associations for teachers in Kenya. These are Kenya Union for Post Primary Education Teachers and Kenya National Union for Teachers.
The KNUT has proposed to increase the retirement age for its officers from sixty to sixty-five years, which has been opposed by other officers.
The proposal to raise the retirement age is to benefit some top union officials, who are expected to retire from next year, according to a union official who is against the proposal.
If the proposal to raise the retirement age from sixty to sixty-five for teachers holding positions in the union through top officials such as Oyuu, Karinga Patrick, Mutai Stanley and Muthoni Mercy is expected to retire within the next two years, then this would benefit.
Other officials are against the proposal as it would prevent them from rising to higher positions in the leadership of the union.
