TSC returns 17 withdrawn teachers cautions against hostility

TSC returns 17 withdrawn teachers cautions against hostility

TSC returns 17 withdrawn teachers cautions against hostility

Following parental harassment, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) decided to reinstate teachers who had been transferred from a Kakamega school. Speaking yesterday during a meeting with sponsors and the St. Gabriel Isongo Secondary School Board of Management, Nancy Macharia, Chief Executive Officer of TSC, defended the action, stating that tutors cannot function well in an antagonistic environment.

Dr. Macharia stated yesterday, “The TSC’s decision to, therefore, transfer the teachers was meant to protect the teachers’ lives from the insecurity posed by the community,” while also recognizing children’s rights.

“While we are aware of the rights of every child to education, and this is enshrined in the Constitution, which we all have to respect, we also considered the lives of the teachers as sacrosanct. We could not foresee a situation where the teachers could work in a community that is unfriendly to them and that posed a threat to them.”

TSC moved 17 instructors from the Mumias East school on Wednesday of last week after parents stormed the building and dismissed the director of studies due to the low Kenya Certificate of Secondary School results from the previous year.Prior to moving to the main office in Nairobi, leaders from the sponsoring Catholic Diocese of Kakamega had set up camp at the TSC regional offices on Monday.

Father Fredrick Lugonzo of Bumini Parish had earlier inthe day said the commission had agreed to meet the school management on how to restore normalcy.“The initiative to seek an audience with the teachers’ employer has culminated into an agreement to have a meeting with them. As I speak to you (Tuesday) we are scheduled for the meeting at 2pm,” he said.

“We are hoping for a good outcome so that the teachers can return to our school by the end of this week.” With just 13 teachers remaining who were employed by the Board of Management, Lugonzo claimed that learning had been negatively impacted.According to him, the news had an impact on Form One admissions since some parents were hesitant to enroll their children until they received assurances that the TSC teachers would return.

On Friday, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu termed the decision as insensitive and not in best interest of the children. Machogu said the school should be reopened within a week and the teachers moved back.

“I am therefore directing the Ministry of Education field officers and Boards of Management to move fast and work with the TSC and the Ministry of Interior to iron out the misunderstanding in some of the schools where parents invaded schools with a view of resumption of normal running activities as soon as possible which should not be able to go for more than one week,” he said.

In addition, a few local authorities had petitioned the commission to allow the  teachers at the problematic school to return. They begged the panel to take the children’s wellbeing into consideration, even as  they demanded that the parents who had harassed the instructors be arrested.