Schools fail to open due to insecurity
What you need to know:
- More than 1,000 teachers have refused to go back to the region since January, citing insecurity that followed the massacre of teachers in late 2014 and the last month’s murder of 142 students of Garissa University College.
- However, Baringo County Commissioner Peter Okwanyo said all the affected schools would be reopened and provided with adequate security.
- At Moinonin Primary School in Baringo North Sub-county, out of the 272 pupils, only three turned up on Monday.
A number of schools Monday failed to reopen for the second term due to insecurity.
In Nairobi, a number of students from Garissa Teachers College were at the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) headquarters to seek the union’s intervention so that they are transferred to other colleges.
More than 1,000 teachers have refused to go back to the region since January, citing insecurity that followed the massacre of teachers in late 2014 and the last month’s murder of 142 students of Garissa University College.
At Moinonin Primary School in Baringo North Sub-county, out of the 272 pupils, only three turned up on Monday.
A senior teacher at the school, Mr Wesley Lagat, said the school is converted into a sleeping hall at night for hundreds of women and children who have fled their homes as men keep vigil in the bush to ward off armed bandits.
PLOTTING TO STRIKE
“Even here, the affected families are not safe because there are claims that the bandits are plotting to strike. The government should address this issue once and for all. Every year, we fail to complete the syllabus due to insecurity, which has led to dismal performance in national examinations,” Mr Lagat told the Nation.
However, Baringo County Commissioner Peter Okwanyo said all the affected schools would be reopened and provided with adequate security.
“We are doing all within our means to reopen all the affected schools. We, however, call on the effected residents to go back to their homes,” said Mr Okwanyo.
Yesterday, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi called on boards of various institutions to work closely with security committees.
Speaking during the 5th East Africa Higher Education Quality Assurance forum at Brackenhurst Conference Centre in Kiambu, Prof Kaimenyi said the ministry was also working with the Interior ministry to resolve insecurity issues.
