The Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has failed teachers affected by terrorism in Northeastern region, the Kenya National Union of Teachers has said.
Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion criticised the ministry's leadership for failing to convene a stakeholders' meeting to find a solution to the insecurity in the region.
This union on Monday asked Magoha set up a meeting to discuss the frequent attacks on non-local teachers by the Somali-based al Shabaab terror group.
“The CSs have never taken it upon themselves to convene meetings. We cannot have a sector that is not coordinated,” Sossion said.
Several non-local teachers in the region have been maimed and others killed by the terrorists since the first attack in 2015.
The attacks have caused a mass exodus of non-local teachers, disrupting education in the region.
On Monday, the militants killed three non-local teachers in an attack in Kamuthe in Garissa county.
Sossion also called out Kuppet's Akello Misori for saying that non-local teachers should be armed.
“Anyone asking for arming of teachers is either ignorant or insane. Nowhere in the world are teachers armed. Never,” he said.
He added, “The only firearm for a teacher is a piece of chalk. We cannot be a country of guns, we must be a country of peace, free of guns.”
Misori had on Tuesday asked the government to train the teachers on handling firearms so that they can defend themselves when they are in danger.
But Sossion rubbished such a move as an affront to teaching.
The nominated MP asked Magoha to urgently call for a meeting to resolve the crisis and help the children who are currently not being taught.
“In 2015, children of northern Kenya went without teachers for 60 days. In 2016, for the same duration. In 2017 and 2018 also and they have begun the year on a very bad note,” he said.
Knut said hundreds of non-local teachers have left the Northeastern region for fear of their lives.
Many have been camping at the Teachers Service Commission offices in Garissa and Nairobi seeking transfers.
“Teachers are frightened and have panicked. Hundreds of them have vacated the areas. Many of them have notified the union and they are at the TSC headquarters,” he said.
Sossion urged the TSC to recall, train and employ the locals whose programmes were discontinued a few years ago.
He said it is only by employing the locals that the insecurity in the region will be addressed.
