Teachers from the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) have condemned the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for purportedly transferring multiple teachers from Turkana County to adjacent Baringo County without providing replacements.
During a press conference on Saturday, February 8, KESSHA Secretary Michael Ejikon charged that TSC had transferred over 47 teachers from different schools in Turkana County without providing replacements.
He claims that the Commission deliberately violated the law by seemingly denying education to children from marginalized communities, a responsibility of the government.
Areman Simon, a KUPPET representative in Turkana, echoed Ejikon’s sentiments by criticizing TSC for compromising education in the Northern county.
Areman underscored a particular case in which the Commission was said to have moved almost all teachers from a single school without providing replacements, thereby paralyzing educational activities within that institution.
Areman underscored the issue, disclosing that several teachers had decided to reject the transfer letters, but the Commission reportedly moved them against their will.
“Transferring five teachers from one station is not acceptable; it does a disservice to the learners of Turkana County. Areman questioned, “Once you transfer the five teachers, who will teach them?”
He added, “A teacher who has not requested a transfer cannot be transferred, and we have an example in a nearby high school where this happened despite the teacher’s refusal.”
This is not the first occasion on which those involved in education have expressed sorrow over the lack of teachers in the majority of secondary schools; the challenge has continued to exist despite the government’s earlier commitment to recruit 20,000 more teachers in January of this year.
Due to the lack of personnel in the majority of schools nationwide, students are crammed into classrooms, teaching hours have been extended beyond limits, and certain subjects are without specialists.
Last October, Nacy Macharia, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TSC, disclosed that the Commission faced difficulties in finding science teachers, even though there were more than 400,000 unemployed teachers in the country.
She observed that the majority of schools in the country lacked sufficient science teachers, which weakened the entire recruitment process.
