The Teachers Service Commission is to blame for the lengthy closure of at least five primary schools in Lamu, county commissioner Joseph Kanyiri has said.
Basuba, Milimani, Mangai, Mararani and Kiangwe primary schools — all in terror-prone Basuba ward — have remained closed for five years.
Frequent attacks by al Shabaab attacks caused teachers to flee for their lives between 2014 and 2017.
Basuba ward is close to Boni Forest, hiding grounds for Shabaab militants near the Lamu-Somalia border. The Kenya Defence Forces has been trying to flush out terrorists since 2015.
Residents have blamed the national government for failing to secure the region and deploy teachers to the closed.
But speaking in Lamu on Tuesday, the county police boss said the government had done enough to secure the areas and shouldn’t be blamed for the state of education in the area.
Kanyiri said the TSC had refused to deploy teachers to the affected schools despite numerous assurances of security. He said the teachers' employer should inform the public why the schools haven’t re-opened in five years.
“The national government doesn’t deploy teachers, that’s the mandate of the TSC. Our job is security and we have ensured that in these areas. We do not have control over what the commission does, we can simply advise and in this case, security is optimal for learners and teachers,” Kanyiri said.
He said there haven't been any security incidents in Basuba for more than a year.
The TSC recalled 14 teachers from Basuba and redeployed them to safer zones between 2014 and 2016. Six more were interdicted for desertion.
The commission has said it would not deploy teachers to areas vulnerable to terror attacks until the thenational government can guarantee their security.
However, County TSC boss Mwanasiti Mwakibonje said the commission has not refused to deploy teachers to the areas. She said the positions would be filled in this year's recruitment process.
Many schoolgoing children have remained at home. A few have been transferred to safer learning centres at the Mokowe Arid Zone Primary School in Mokowe, Lamu West and Kiunga in Lamu East.
The Mokowe facility, which was specially established to serve marginalised communities like the Boni and Sanye, is overwhelmed and unable to admit more due to strained resources and staff.
Kanyiri proposed the TSC to recruit and train Form 4 leavers from terror-prone areas and post them to their own areas.
“If they don’t want to post other people here, let them train and recruit from these affected communities,” he said.
(Edited by Otieno Owino)
