Wajir parents, board members ask MPs to address teacher crisis

A classroom at El Adow Primary School in Wajir South. Parents and school board members in Wajir County have asked MPs to hold a special sitting to discuss the teacher crisis in the county. PHOTO | BRUHAN MAKONG | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The Teachers Service Commission has transferred more than 900 non-native teachers from the county.
  • Many schools remain closed for lack of teachers.

Parents and school board members in Wajir County have asked MPs to hold a special sitting to discuss the education crisis in the county.

Many non-local teachers left the county, and others have been transferred following a Shabaab attack last month in which three colleagues were killed.

TEACHERS

Addressing journalists in Wajir Town, Mr Ibrahim Kalmoi, a primary school board member in the county, said that the matter should be handled urgently.

“Why is the parliamentary Commission on Education silent while all this is happening? We want them to hold a special sitting in order to address this issue that is now putting the lives of over 10,000 children at stake,” he said.

Mr Kalmoi spoke on Saturday during a meeting of primary school board members and head teachers.

The Teachers Service Commission has transferred more than 900 non-native teachers from the county.

Mr Kalmoi added that the Commission on Education should put Teachers’ Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia to task on the current state of education in the county.

RIGHTS

Mr Mohamed Dalahow, another board member, said that if the matter is not urgently addressed, many schoolchildren would be vulnerable to radicalisation.

“The more these children are left idle the more they become targets of various radical groups,” he said.

Mr Roble Mohamed said the government should intervene as children’s right to education was being violated.

“The government has turned a blind eye on this part of the country yet we are all Kenyan citizens,” he said.

Mr Abdi Omar said the county is peaceful adding that the top county and the regional security committee had confirmed that Wajir is safe.

“As much as we deeply regret the past attack on teachers, it should not be used to victimise the whole country,” he said.

“Other civil servants are working here freely with no fear and we wonder why the teachers have been withdrawn from the county.”

SCHOOLS

Mr Omar added that non-local teachers were carrying on with their duties in private schools in the county.

Boards of Management said schools would remain closed until a permanent solution is found.

They said student cannot go to school if there are no teachers to teach them.

More than 200 schools were closed on Friday for lack of teachers.