Better no teaching at all than that under duress

A standoff continues over teachers who fled parts of North Eastern Kenya after a spate of attacks that targeted people belonging to other ethnic groups or religions perceived to be “unacceptable” to the terrorists.

After they fled, most public servants who could find other jobs did so, and are unlikely to return to their posts.

Those that felt their security was guaranteed ventured back and are presumably at their duty stations serving the nation.

Others chose to ask their employer, the government, to send them to other stations that they consider safer than their current places of work.

This is the group that has been camping in Nairobi waiting for a decision by their employer on new postings.

They have indicated that they are ready to serve almost anywhere except in the North East, where they perceive their lives to be at risk.

One will ask if this is a fair decision to make, given that children in those risky areas also have a right to education. But this question must be juxtaposed against the natural self-preservation instinct.

Is it fair to force someone to work in an area he perceives to be unsafe, in order to ensure that the rights of another are safeguarded?

Only philosophers can engage in this argument, and its resolution, one way or the other, will not help the situation on the ground.

How have the governments, both county and national, responded to this situation?

From what we can tell, as covered in the media, they have used threats and insults, admonishing the teachers for suggesting that the governments are not in full control of their territories.

They have threatened them with sacking and they have belittled them by asking them who they think they are!

SNAP OF A FINGER

A leader was quoted asking how special the teachers think they are, and suggesting that they can be replaced at the snap of a finger.

Does anyone honestly think that this strategy will work? Do we think that forcing teachers to go back to schools in North Eastern Kenya will improve the lot of hapless children now suffering without teachers in classrooms?

Education of a child has less to do with what the teacher communicates verbally than it does with the teacher’s demeanour.

Children learn more by observing and doing than they do through listening.

A teacher working under duress is more dangerous to children’s welfare than no teacher at all.

The children will not connect with the teacher, and many opportunities for learning will be missed as a result.

The teachers will carry their insecurities to class, and any small disturbance will result in a catastrophic reaction.

This is even more so for those who lost close friends and colleagues in the terrorist attacks.

Instead of being offered psychological assistance, and transfers if necessary, their employer wants them to go back to the scene of the incident, where they will relive the atrocities and possibly be paralysed by memories of their departed loved ones.

Treating the teachers humanely is all they need.

Perhaps a reassurance that their needs will be taken care of, and an understanding tone, are all they are asking for.

As an ancient philosopher once quipped, when a child asks for fish, which parent gives him a snake?

Prof Lukoye Atwoli is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Dean, Moi University School of Medicine [email protected]