• Senators want teachers interdicted by TSC for skipping CBC training reinstated.
• Faults the commission for creating crisis in schools.
Image: FILE
Senators have criticised the interdiction of 280 teachers who failed to attend training for the competency-based curriculum.
The Teachers Service Commission disciplined the tutors after they snubbed and allegedly disrupted workshops conducted during the April holidays.
During a heated debate in Parliament last Thursday, the legislators faulted the TSC’s move, saying that the mass interdictions have crippled learning in most public schools across the country.
They are demanding immediate and unconditional reinstatement of the suspended teachers.
“We can gamble with anything else, but we cannot afford to do so with the lives of our innocent children,” Vihiga Senator George Khaniri said.
A Labour court on May 16 temporarily stopped the sacking of the tutors following a petition filed the Kenya National Teachers Union.
Knut, led by its secretary general Wilson Sossion is opposed to the implementation of the CBC saying that it has been hurried.
However, the senators accused the commission of ignoring the order and going ahead to stop the payments of salaries of the affected teachers. The teachers have been replaced, they said.
“You cannot interdict half the teachers of a zone. Their salaries have been stopped and those who were promoted to replace the interdicted head teachers are unable to report to the schools because of the circumstances surrounding this matter,” nominated Senator Judith Pareno said.
Most of those suspended by the commission are head teachers, deputy head teachers and several Knut officials.
Nominated Senator Mary Seneta said that some schools in Kajiado County have been closed while others forced to seek the services of PTA-employed and the ECD teachers.
She said that several attempts, including a meeting with the TSC officers, have failed to resolve the matter.
“TSC has not taken any measures even after having a meeting with the leadership of Kajiado County. Our children are suffering because our schools have been closed,” she said.
Taita Taveta Senator Jones Mwaruma said that several teachers in his county, including those who were sick during the training, have been interdicted, their salaries stopped and replaced.
“What would happen if casualties are written yet those teachers have been replaced? There is a crisis and we need to nib it in the bud before it goes out of hand,” he said.
Yesterday, Sossion accused the TSC of frustrating teachers who were reinstated by the court.
“TSC is using orthodox means to frustrate teachers from returning to work. They are not following the court order and we are not going to accept this,” he told the Star on the phone.
Senate speaker Kenneth Lusaka directed the education committee to look into the issue as a matter of urgency.
The committee chaired by Bomet Senator Christopher Langat is expected to table a report detailing the measures the Ministry of Education has taken to resolve the matter to prevent a crisis in schools.
“We shall give a concrete answer to this House on Tuesday,” Langat said
(Edited by O. Owino)