Crisis in Garissa schools as teachers fail to resume duty

A major crisis has hit the education sector in Garissa County as most teachers keep off, two weeks into the second term, due to insecurity.

Learning has been paralysed in both primary and secondary schools as teachers, most of them non-locals, keep off.

County Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KSSHA) chairman Abdi Moulid says up to 160 of their members are yet to report back to work.

But sources at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) put the number of teachers who have not shown up since schools reopened at 401, 234 of whom are primary school teachers while the rest are secondary school teachers.

The situation is even worse in schools near the volatile Kenya-Somalia border where only head teachers have reported back.

People in these areas are living in fear of attacks by Al-Shabaab who have carried out a string of attacks in the region.

“The fact that most of teachers in these schools are non-locals has worsened the situation further,” said Mr Moulid.

There are fears that schools will not complete this year's syllabus and that preparations for national exams will also be adversely affected if the situation remains unchecked.

“This is a big blow to the education sector in our county,” said Mr Moulid who spoke after his association held a meeting with school heads in Garissa Town.

STOPGAP MEASURE

Schools heads are now appealing to TSC to employ Form Four leavers to teach as a stopgap measure before a lasting solution is found.

They also want disciplinary action taken against teachers who are yet to report to work.

Mr Moulid who is also the Garissa High School principal appealed to both county and national governments to enhance security in the region, especially in schools in far flung areas which are easy targets of terrorists.

North Eastern Province Girls Secondary Schools has the highest number of teachers yet to resume duty at 17, followed by Garissa High School at 15, among others.

Sankuri Secondary principal Ibrahim Abdullahi said the situation has now reached a crisis level and called on stakeholders to help reverse the situation.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures. Let the government employ untrained teachers and also recall those who have retired,” he said.

The problem was worsened by the April 2 terror attack on Garissa University College where 142 students were killed.

In November 2014, suspected Al-Shabaab militants waylaid a Nairobi-bound bus and killed 28 people, mostly non-Muslim teachers.

As a result, non-local teachers have been agitating for transfers.

Through the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), the teachers have vowed not to return to the northern eastern region.

Government assurances to the teachers that they would be safe were complicated by the latest attack on Garissa University.

The situation is even worse in Isiolo where most schools risk closure due to lack of teachers.

The teachers who have declined to resume work are accusing the Ministry of Education and Knut of not taking their grievances seriously.

Nagaa Primary School headteacher Abdi Guyo who spoke at Meru Teachers Training Collage on Friday during seminar for mathematics and science teachers, said his school has only three teachers.

“We are forced to combine pupils so that they can at least be attended to by the available teachers,” Mr Guyo said.

Tana Primary School headteacher Dofata Adan said his school has only two teachers.

“The school had no single teacher when I took over. I have been writing letters to Knut to help me get more teachers but to no avail,” he said.

Isiolo County Knut executive member Abdirahman Hamo said has complained to the Ministry of Education several times regarding the issue but no action has been taken.