The chief executive officer of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Nancy Macharia, has come under intense pressure to withdraw disciplinary letters sent to teachers who have been unable to reach their duty stations due to the insecurity in the North Eastern region.
The Council of Governors, a section of MPs, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) want the commission to address the plight of the 129 teachers "without appearing to punish them over the rising insecurity and banditry attacks in Northern Kenya".
This comes as the affected teachers plan to rally support from MPs at Parliament Buildings on Monday and seek an audience with Dr Macharia to rescind the prohibition letters served on them and push for their transfer from North-Eastern counties of Mandera, Wajir and Garissa.
Dr Erick Mutai, the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Council of Governors (COG), said that the leadership of the devolved government units was concerned about the turn of events regarding insecurity, teaching and learning in schools in Northern Kenya, which had driven non-local teachers out of the region.
Dr Mutai said the TSC should allow teachers to work in a safe environment to provide quality education to learners instead of forcing them to live and work in a volatile area where they are psychologically tortured.
"We have witnessed several cases of teachers being killed in the North Eastern region, leaving their spouses widows and widowers while their children are orphaned at a young age. This must come to an end even as the government seeks to tame insecurity in the affected regions," said Dr Mutai.
KNUT secretary-general Collins Oyuu separately called for the immediate transfer of teachers to safer zones to protect them from attacks that have claimed the lives of several of their colleagues in the recent past.
Mr Oyuu, who was speaking when he closed a workshop for KNUT school representatives at St Kizito School for the Deaf in Litein, Bureti Constituency, Kericho County, said to address the issue of teacher shortage in bandit attack-prone counties, the government should train local teachers and post them to schools in their localities.
"The commission should be sensitive to the needs of teachers in the context of rising insecurity with attacks directly targeting them in the stations where they work in the volatile North Eastern region. The disciplinary letters issued to the affected teachers should be withdrawn forthwith," Mr Oyuu said.
He added that: "The government should consider lowering the entry points for P2 and P3 teachers in North Eastern to increase the number of trainees for subsequent posting to local schools to address the shortage (of teachers) in schools."
Nandi Senator Kiprotich Cherargei, nominated Senator Joyce Korir, and MPs Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), Richard Yegon (Bomet East), John Waluke (Sirisia), former Kanu Secretary General Nick Salat, while speaking in Bomet County during the burial ceremony of the late Ruth Chepng'eno Sossion at Kakimirai village, turned their guns on TSC for the way it has treated teachers who cannot access their stations and have been at home for almost three months.
"The issue of insecurity is a reality, not a fiction. The leadership of the Teachers Service Commission should not even imagine that they can write interdiction letters to the affected teachers. They can only do so if they want to dance on their graves," said Mr Cherargei.
"If teachers fear for their lives, they should be transferred in the spirit of delocolisation to areas where they are safe and of their choice."
Mr Nyoro said the government was keen to clean up the mess that has bedeviled the education sector for decades by increasing resource allocation, which has been at the bottom of the table for years.
"It is important to note that 30 percent of the 2023/2024 national budget allocation has been allocated to the education sector to ensure that we create a human resource that will drive the country's economic development in the future," Mr Nyoro said.
The affected teachers, who have been agitating for their transfer since August 28, said they would on Monday seek audience with MPs and the Commission's top brass to press for the revocation of the interdiction letters they were served.
The commission has ordered the teachers to return to their posts by September 7 or face disciplinary action in the form of interdictions.
“Your request for transfer out of the North Eastern region is acknowledged by TSC. However, due to lack of a suitable replacement your request is hereby declined. You are therefore directed to report to your workstation by Thursday the 7th September, 2023 failure to which disciplinary action shall be preferred against you,” reads a letter from the TSC to one of the teachers.
The teachers have petitioned Parliament to intervene and transfer them out of the region, saying their lives are in danger as they fight the TSC's ban.
“You deserted duty with effect from 08/092023 to date. Consequently, you are hereby interdicted with effect from 22/09/2023. Before TSC proceeds to consider and determine your case, you are invited to make a defence statement in writing within 21 days from the date of this letter,” reads a letter from the TSC to one of the teachers.
Speaking at Mandera Teachers Training College last week, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said the government will employ more teachers in the North Eastern region to provide quality education to learners.
“In the near future, the North Eastern region should be self sufficient in teachers with the opening up of more training institutions locally,” Mr Machogu said while launching the Mandera County Education Task Force report.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki told the Parliamentary Committee on Education on August 2 that al-Shabaab attacks in northern Kenya had affected learning in schools and that the government was keen to rid the region of militants from Somalia.
"Some of the threats are also coming from the local communities and we are engaging them to find community-led and supported initiatives to resolve the problems that are arising," Prof Kindiki said.
