Knut wants better security for smooth learning in Mandera

The Kenya National Union of Teachers has called for better security from the national government to facilitate learning in Mandera.

County Knut executive secretary  Hussein Hassan said the national government has a mandate to ensure its citizens are secure wherever they are.

Hassan added as the branch executive secretary  he is committed to working to improve the working standards of teachers. He spoke during this year's Knut annual  general meeting. 

“We must ensure that all our teachers, regardless of where they are, have better living standards," he said.

He added the region remains under-staffed due to insecurity challenges but pledged to pressure the Teachers Service Commission to increase staff in the border county.

Knut national assistant treasurer Mohamed Kullow urged the remaining  teachers in the area to bear with the situation.

He pleaded with teachers not to desert the region as it is faced with a teachers shortage.

Currently, Mandera needs more than 2,000 teachers to fill the gap in 300 public primary schools and 550 in public secondary schools.

Constant al Shabaab attacks in the area which seem to target non-locals have not made the situation any better.

The region lost 28 teachers in 2014 after a bus they were travelling in while heading to Nairobi for December holidays was stopped as bullets were sprayed on them.

This was followed by a mass exodus of teachers especially non-locals.

In January 2020, the region faced another teachers crisis after TSC transferred tutors to other parts of the country citing insecurity after three of them were killed by Al shabaab during a night raid.

Last year, Mandera Senator Ali Roba said Al Shabaab was imposing economic sanctions and killing the fabric of the society by targeting schools, health sector, businesses, development projects and isolating the region from the rest of the country.

He said the problem had been compounded by creation of Al Shabaab terror cells suspected to be led by locals.

He said  the time for blame game was over and that homegrown solutions to end the Shabaab menace must be found.