Northeastern schools still understaffed ahead of reopening

As schools prepare to reopen mid next month, those in Northeastern are still facing a teachers' shortage crisis.

Before the government closed schools in March, the Teachers Service Commission had withdrawn hundreds of non-local teachers from the region over insecurity.

Data from the TSC in Garissa county shows that after the non-locals exodus, there was a shortage of 1,096 teachers in primary and 600 in secondary schools.

The TSC decision led to an uproar from local leaders and parents who said it was an infringement on the rights of children.

Six months down the line, the problem remains unresolved and teachers who left are yet to be replaced.

On Monday, a stakeholders' meeting was held in Garissa to formulate a memorandum to be presented to the Ministry of Education and the TSC on staffing challenges.

The meeting, which was sponsored by boards of management and parents' association, brought together political leaders and officials from the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association and the Kenya Primary School Head Teachers Association.

The meeting recommended that TSC should employ untrained teachers to seal the shortage gap.

Other recommendations were that the employment of non-local teachers should be on contract basis, qualified locals to be given priority in employment and subjects advertised according to needs of the schools.

The ministry was urged to stop the creation and registration of new schools until existing schools are well-staffed.

Participants also recommended that the ministry forms a task force to look into the education crisis in Northeastern.

The meeting said police reservists should be recruited and deployed in schools with high risk of attack to ensure security.

The recommendations were read by Kessha executive member Abdikarim Mohamed.

Garissa Township MP Aden Duale lauded the teachers' efforts in coming up with recommendations which, if implemented, would solve the problems schools in the region faced.

“As a region, we need to move away from constant lamentation and fully take control of the destiny of our children. We are the ones who should come up with solutions," he said.

"It should start with encouraging our sons and daughters to take up teaching courses because our people are yet to embrace teaching as a noble profession.”

Garissa Knut secretary general Abdirizack Hussein said political leaders have a big role to play in not only encouraging locals to take up teaching courses but also supporting them when they do so.

“The leadership of Garissa has the onus to stand up to the education challenges in the county, transcend and provide solutions to the perennial crisis in the education sector in the county by engaging the education stakeholders at the national level,” he said.

   Edited by A.N