TSC steps in to solve plight of teachers in hostile areas

A group of Wajir teachers decry insecurity in the region. PHOTO | BRUHAN MAKONG | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The Knut and Kuppet have demanded the transfer of their members to safer areas.
  • Sossion demanded that teachers in North Eastern should be replaced with local untrained tutors and asked TSC to drop the delocalisation programme.

The Teachers Service Commission has announced new measures to address concerns raised by non-local tutors in areas facing security challenges in a bid to keep them there.

Chief executive Nancy Macharia, in a March 1 circular to her officers in counties, said non-local teachers be posted to serve in schools near urban centres where they can conveniently access accommodation, transport and emergency services.

Mrs Macharia said this would enhance their integration into the host community and ease the burden of travelling long distances to their places of work.

“Teachers posted to their home or neighbouring counties should be equitably distributed within to lessen shortages,” Mrs Macharia said.

TRANSFER

She said teachers facing insecurity or hostility should be transferred urgently.

“Teachers who require medical attention or psychosocial support are granted the requisite leave as per the Code of Regulations or transferred to schools where they can access the necessary attention,” she said.

Mrs Macharia directed county officers to work with security agencies to ensure teachers were safe.

“It is imperative that teachers are served with courtesy and dignity whenever they seek services at TSC offices.

"While you are expected to strictly enforce the Code of Regulation for teachers, you are reminded that as managers you should be mindful of the teacher’s welfare with a view to promoting productivity and service delivery to learners,” she added.

SECURITY

Mrs Macharia admitted that teachers are undergoing exceptional hardships in the performance of duty due to insecurity in some parts of Kenya.

Several teachers working in the northeast have been camping at TSC headquarters in Nairobi to demand transfer from the region where some of their colleagues have been killed since 2015.

The teachers have narrated harrowing experiences at the hands of students, parents and county education officers “who derogatorily refer to us as nguraro (hard hair) or kafir (pagan)”.

Kenya National Union of Teachers and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers have demanded the transfer of their members to safer areas.

Mr Omboko Milemba, Kuppet chairman, said it is sad that teachers are being harassed by people they are supposed to serve.

SOLUTIONS

Mr Milemba, who is also MP of Emuhaya, criticised MPs from North Eastern for saying teachers who have fled the area be forced back.

“North Eastern remains a region where non-local teachers are not respected, communities are hostile to teachers, students can and often beat up teachers, and these leaders are aware of this,” he said in a statement.

Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, Knut, asked Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed to convene a meeting involving TSC, unions and leaders from the region to find a lasting solution to the problem.

He demanded that teachers in the region should be replaced with local untrained tutors and asked TSC to drop the delocalisation programme.

SHABAAB

The National Assembly’s Education Committee last week directed that teachers who felt insecure in Wajir County be moved.

Last week, Mrs Macharia told the committee chaired by Julius Melly that insecurity in arid and semi-arid areas needed to be addressed.

“Challenges have been experienced in Mandera, Wajir, Lamu and Garissa counties due to Al-Shabaab menace. The emerging trend by the terror groups to attack non-local teachers has worsened the situation,” she said.

She added that since 2015, the commission had buried young and energetic teachers who, for the love and passion of their profession, were posted to to the northeast.