Nyeri County ECD teachers deployed as parking attendants during holidays
A parking attendant. Teachers employed by the Nyeri County government are decrying mistreatment and humiliation after being made to work as parking attendants in Nyeri streets during school holidays. The teachers, mostly teaching in early childhood institutions, say they face a lot of embarrassment as pupils and parents question what they are doing on the streets yet take them as role models for the children they teach. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- This, a source said, was attributed to the absence of other county government workers who have since gone on their annual leaves.
- The teachers have decried this mistreatment saying they are as qualified as other teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission.
- The teachers are however only getting paid for their teaching work and not as parking attendants.
- King’ong’o Primary School head teacher Mwangi Ndururi said teachers should be held in high esteem as they serve as role models to the pupils they teach.
Teachers under the Nyeri County government are made to work as parking attendants during school holidays.
The teachers, mostly teaching in early childhood development (ECD)institutions, had been employed by the former County Council of Nyeri whose roles were taken over by the county government.
The teachers have decried this mistreatment by the county government saying they are as qualified as other teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
A reliable source who cannot be mentioned for fear of victimisation revealed that they have been deployed to the streets of Nyeri Town to act as parking attendants and revenue collectors during the Christmas holidays.
WORKERS ON LEAVE
This, the source said, was attributed to the absence of other county government workers who have since gone on their annual leaves.
For a fourth day running, the source said, the teachers from King’ong’o and Nyakinywa nursery schools have been enduring ridicule on the streets from parents and some of their pupils whom they teach.
“Parents with pupils in our institutions wonder out loud why we are in these yellow coats yet we stand in front of their young ones as teachers and as role models.
We all are trained. Personally I have a Diploma in Early Childhood Development (ECD) and very uncomfortable being out here in the open doing this work,” the source said.
Such a situation was first experienced in August 2011 although the Kenya Local Government Workers Union intervened and things returned to normalcy, the source says.
The teachers are however only getting paid for their teaching work and not as parking attendants.
ROLE MODELS
According to King’ong’o Primary School head teacher Mwangi Ndururi, teachers should be held in high esteem as they serve as role models to the pupils they teach.
Speaking to the Nation, Mr Ndururi said as parents, they expected their children to be modelled by the teachers and the county government should quickly intervene and save the teachers from the embarrassing situation.
“From what they express they are highly demotivated and they deserve to be held in high esteem.
Parents who have seen them working out here will lack respect for them and those institutions in which they teach,” he said.
Mr Ndururi expressed fears that such circumstances lead to poor performance at the early childhood education level that ought to give a firm foundation to the young ones.
“As an overseer I receive children from these pre-schools and no wonder they do not perform well,” Mr Ndururi said.
Efforts to reach the County Executive Secretary for Education and ICT Elijah Nguyo for comment on the matter were futile.
