Biting teacher shortage hits Mandera County

Mandera County has a shortage of 1,800 teachers.

This follows a massive exodus of tutors from the devolved unit last year due to insecurity, according to Teachers Service Commission’s Mandera Director Jimali Ahmed.
Mr Ahmed said 850 teachers fled the county at the height of insecurity, after 28 of their colleagues on a Nairobi-bound bus that was hijacked by Al-Shabaab terrorists were killed.

“We have a serious shortage of teachers in many schools in Mandera despite having employed 671 after the exodus,” he said.

Since the exodus, only 70 vacancies have been filled in secondary schools despite the TSC giving Mandera 200 slots.

“We are still facing challenges of attracting teachers. TSC forms remain unfilled at our offices as qualified staff avoid Mandera,” he said.

Mr Ahmed said areas bordering Somalia are the most affected, with some schools at risk of closure due to lack of trained teachers.

“Lafey Secondary School has the principal as the only trained teacher. We can’t send more teachers to the area due to insecurity,” he said.

140 TEACHERS INTERDICTED

He said of the 671 newly employed teachers in the county, 140 had been interdicted or posted to other counties while others left due to continued attacks.

“When a military camp was attacked at El-Adde in Somalia, teachers from two schools in Elwak fled, and now the children are suffering,” said Mr Ahmed.
The county government hired 910 Form Four leavers to teach in the county after the 2014 bus attack.

There are 42 public secondary schools and 210 public primary schools in Mandera. The county has 14 private secondary schools and 33 private primary schools.

Mr Ahmed questioned the educational qualifications of 172 teachers in the private schools, after none applied for the vacancies at public schools advertised by the TSC.

“From our own research, less than 10 teachers in the private schools are trained,” said the official.

He spoke during the launch of performance contracting for teachers in Mandera Town.