Teachers continue to stay away from Garissa County

Learning in schools in the remote areas of Garissa County remains paralysed after many of the non-local teachers failed to show up for the second term. This comes even as the Teachers Service Commission instituted disciplinary action against them.

The Nation has established that the hardest hit areas are Fafi sub-county where some schools are run single-handedly by head teachers after the TSC-employed teachers left due to insecurity.

Some schools opened a month after the official opening date and were on the verge of closing after all non-local teachers declined to return. Other schools are now run by local volunteer teachers.

Garasweino Primary School head teacher Abdi Aden Digale told the Nation that the school opened on June 8 after he was transferred to the institution because the school administrator, who was not from the area, left with four of his colleagues.

Ahmed Dubat, the head teacher of Guyu Primary School, said: “I am the only TSC-employed teacher currently in this school. Four of my colleagues have left, leaving me to attend to over 200 pupils. Per day I take up to 30 lessons, it is very stressful when one teacher has to carry out the work of four.”

According to the TSC, out of 93 teachers in Fafi sub-county, only six have return to their respective schools while in Garissa County less than 15 primary school teachers have resumed duty.

Sources at the Commission have however told the Nation that disciplinary action has been instituted against teachers who are yet to show up to work.

“I can confirm that there are those who we have already interdicted. We have submitted the names of some to Nairobi to remove them from the payroll,” said a source in Garissa who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The source claimed that some secondary school teachers were still in Garissa but had not reported to work, choosing instead to teach in private schools.

Most school administrators have employed teachers paid by the Parents Teachers Associations.

Many non-local teachers in northeastern Kenya have declined to report back to work station and have instead opted to push for transfers to other parts of the country over security concerns.

Recently, Garissa Governor Nathif Jama and his Wajir counterpart Ahmed Abdullahi promised to take steps to prevent the collapse of the education sector in the region.

Reference : www.nation.co.ke