Contradictory cases leave TSC in a Catch-22 situation
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The commission is also facing a possibility of being made to pay huge costs arising from the cases.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission wants TSC compelled to transfer non-local teachers from northeastern Kenya.
Commission, union reached an out-of-court settlement in at least one case.
The Teachers Service Commission has found itself facing two cases seeking opposite orders against it.
The dilemma has been occasioned by the transfer of non-local teachers from counties in the northeast.
The commission is also facing a possibility of being made to pay huge costs arising from the cases.
“The order sought in one petition directly contradicts the directive sought in the other but all are against the commission. This has put us in a Catch-22 situation,” TSC said in its court papers.
HOSTILE
The Kenya Human Rights Commission wants TSC compelled to transfer non-local teachers from northeastern Kenya to "safer" counties.
KHRC says it is unreasonable to expect teachers to work in a hostile environment.
According to the rights agency, TSC ordered non-local teachers back to their stations in Mandera County without considering or addressing the concerns raised.
It also wants TSC stopped from interdicting, penalising or reposting teachers to Mandera, Marsabit, Wajir, Moyale, Garissa and Isiolo counties.
“Terrorists have systematically attacked non-locals in these counties. Sometimes the attacks are executed with full awareness of locals,” KHRC says in the court papers.
According to the KHRC, teachers who do not come from the region are discriminated against on grounds of religion, cultural background and local connections.
On the other hand, Haki Na Sheria Initiative, Pastoralist Girls’ Initiative, Womankind Kenya, Arid Lands Development Focus (Kenya), Wajir South Development Association, Napad and Racida lobbies are seeking orders to restrain the commission from transferring any teacher from the region.
The groups argue that moving the teachers will deny children their right to education.
According to the lobbies, the absence of teachers since last year has created an education crisis in Wajir, Garissa and Mandera counties.
Most public school teachers failed to report to their stations, citing security concerns.
BOYCOTTED
“The actions and inactions of the TSC and the Education Cabinet Secretary have immensely contributed to the worsening educational situation in the three counties," the groups say.
Caught in a tight spot, TSC is seeking refuge in the Constitution, which spells out its primary functions, including assigning a teacher to any public school and promotion and transfer of tutors.
The commission also says it has the mandate of ensuring equitable distribution of teachers to public schools in the country.
This is not the first time the commission is being confronted with the teacher transfer issue.
Paralysis in learning across northeastern began when al-Shabaab terrorists attacked a Nairobi-bound bus on the outskirts of Mandera town in November 2014, killing 28 people, mostly teachers.
The tutors were travelling to their home counties for the December holidays.
As a result of the deadly attack, hundreds of teachers in the northeast boycotted duty and camped at the TSC headquarters in Nairobi for several weeks demanding to be transferred.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers later went to court, seeking orders to compel the commission to transfer the tutors to safer regions.
The judge did not, however, hear the arguments and counter-arguments because the commission and Knut reached an out-of-court settlement to have the tutors posted elsewhere.
TSC later developed "special" guidelines to govern the transfer of teachers from northern Kenya.
