- TSC CEO tells MPs how they have been hurt after forcing non-local teachers to the region only for them to return in a box. Blames some residents of abetting al Shabaab and targeting teachers.
• But National Assembly Education Committee chairman directs TSC not to transfer any teacher out of the region until a solution is found.
Image: COURTESY
The teacher shortage and education crisis in Northeastern are likely to worsen as the Teachers Service Commission on Wednesday ruled out posting non-locals to the volatile region.
TSC boss Nancy Macharia told MPs that unless the region is secure from terrorist attacks, the commission "will not coerce teachers only for them to return in a coffin".
However, National Assembly Education Committee chairman Julius Melly directed the TSC not to transfer any local teachers from the area until a solution is found.
We wont' send teachers to death
TSC boss Nancy Macharia told MPs unless the region is secure from terrorist attacks, the commission "will not coerce teachers only for them to return in a coffin".
“Do not allow locals to transfer out of the region, any teacher from the region should stay there for the time being,” the Tinderet MP said.
Macharia told Parliament that the right to life supersedes the right to education and called on the government to fix the security.
"If our teachers today are assured of security and safety, we will post them this afternoon," Macharia told National Assembly's Education Committee.
Without mincing words, Macharia advised Northeastern leaders to start recruiting local retired teachers below the age of 65 years. They will be contracted by the TSC to help close the shortfall that has nearly brought education to a halt.
Parenst, NGOs, area chiefs and others are pitching in, volunteering to teach.
Macharia said some residents have become al Shabaab sympathisers and informers who sometimes have set up non-locals — Christians — to be murdered.
In five years, the TSC has lost 42 teachers murdered in Wajir, Mandera and Garissa counties.
Other non-locals, such as quarry workers and bs passengers, also have been murdered.
“Article 26 of the Constitution proclaims the right to life and grants every person the right to life. The right is sacrosanct and supersedes all other rights under Chapter 4," Macharia said.
The right to life is a fundamental constitutional right. It takes precedence over any other right, the TSC boss said, adding the commission is obliged to preserve the dignity and rights of its employees.
“It seems the militia knows even when teachers flee to the forest to sleep because they still follow them there," Macharia said.
CS Magoha's solution
Magoha urged Northeastern leaders to consider mobilising all local students who sat KCSE exam and scored a minimum C-plan to consider joining teacher training colleges. Some may excel and in a few years the measure will bear fruit, he said.
Since 2015, the TSC has transferred a record 2,340 non-locals teachers — 836 from Garissa, 287 from Wajir and 964 from Mandera.
“The commission transferred only those teachers who applied for a transfer,” Macharia said.
She said 636 non-local teachers are still on duty in Northeastern.
Before the recent transfers, the region had a shortage of 2,369 teachers in primary schools and 3,855 in secondary school.
The shortage is increasing.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha and Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai appeared with Macharia before the committee seeking a solution to the exodus that has crippled learning in the region.
Magoha urged Northeastern leaders to consider mobilising all local students who sat the KCSE examinations and scored a minimum C-plan to consider joining teacher training colleges. Some may excel and in a few years the measure will bear fruit, he said.
Magoha said 24,058 students scored C plain in KCSE from 2015 to 2019.
In 2019 alone, 4,039 students got C plain from the three counties of Northeastern
“Since 2015, there are 24,058 people who scored the required C plain and my plea ...is that all leaders should identify these candidates to be trained and posted there,” Magoha said.
(Edited by V. Graham)