Why I may be forced to deport some teachers

When I, together with the headmaster of Mwisho wa Lami Secondary School, hired Tracy, Atlas and Agrippa, I was sure that we were not only temporarily replacing the teachers on maternity leave, but that I would also have more teachers on my side than Kuya, a man we have silently been competing with in the staffroom.

You see, despite my superior academic credentials and unrivalled experience, for some reasons, Kuya doesn’t consider me worth being his boss. He believes that he should actually be the deputy of the school.

Maybe he is right, but only if that means that I should be the headmaster, which I am for all intents and purposes – except in TSC records. You see, before the three new teacher’s joined, Kuya was almost beating me in the balance of things in the staffroom, with quite a good number of teachers on his side. Nzomo – Kuya’s acting girlfriend — is obviously on his side. So is Sella, who I believe is always attracted to Kuya’s muscles. Madam Ruth has always been in Kuya’s Corner and so is Erick, who is rarely in school anyway.

CRITICAL TIMES

In my corner has always been Mrs Atika, who is only with me so that her timetable can always suit her and Lena, her bad hair notwithstanding.

As for Saphire, it depended on which side he wakes up. In any case, he is never there at critical times, and therefore can’t be relied upon.

While the allegiance usually changes from time to time, in basic terms, Kuya has more teachers than I, and were it not for my great  Intelligence Quotient, I would never have managed to successfully run this the staffroom as I do.

So with the three teachers joining the staffroom, I was sure that I had advantage over Kuya. The first thing I did to win them was to exempt them from paying for lunch; I paid for them using school funds. Besides, I worked on the timetable so that they only were allocated classes they liked. And I would check on them so often in the staffroom, just to ensure they were ok. I had no doubt I had their support - until last Monday’s meeting.

“We have a great opportunity to start preparing the candidates early so that this year, we post great results,” I started off. This was after I had shared with the staff how (badly) our performance had been in the last few years. Every one was nodding in agreement, a sign that they were with me.

EVENING PREPS

“I have therefore made a timetable for morning and evening preps for class seven and eight,” I said, then distributed two copies of the timetable to everyone to review and give feedback.

“In the spirit of collaborative engagement, I would be willing to listen to you if you want your times changed,” I said. “But we must all turn out for preps.”

“Very correct Bwana Deputy,” said Agrippa, who teaches English. “’We have to teach these children.”

Erick also agreed but only requested for changes. It all seemed to be a closed matter, and we were geared to start the programme the next day, until Kuya spoke.

“Preps is a good idea,” he started. “And I thank Dre for this great initiative.” I could not believe that Kuya was supporting me on such a matter, I thought I was dreaming.

“However,” he went on. “From past experience, the pupils of Mwisho wa Lami have a very poor memory. If you want them to remember something in KCPE which will be done in November, you teach them in September or October.”

“You are right Kuya,” chimed in Nzomo, Kuya’s acting girlfriend. “It will be a waste of me to start serious preps now. I did that last year but nothing came of it.” She added that while she supported the preps programme, she would only participate if is started in September.

NEW TEACHERS

Despite my best efforts, I was outvoted, as even the new teachers, except for Agrippa, opposed me. Kuya and Nzomo went to the extent of saying that if I insisted on the programme, they won’t come to class. I however pasted the preps time-table on the staffroom notice board and directed that everybody follows it. For the next three days, only Agrippa turned up. None of the others attended any class, including Tracy and Atlas.

I called for another staff meeting on Thursday.

“Even TSC doesn’t recognise these lessons you are adding us,” said Kuya, telling me to forget about him attending such lessons. “We have an official time table in this school, please take action against me should I not follow it any day.”

Erick, who earlier agreed to the programme, but failed to attend to any of the classes said he supported the idea but had been busy. “You know my case - I was seeing someone at TSC for that issue of mine.” The issue at hand was him looking for transfer to another school. Bensouda had asked him to get another teacher to swap with. And he had been to TSC offices, trying to get such a teacher. Saphire came in as we were finishing the discussions, with Kuya opposing the plan. It was almost break time and we all broke for tea when Anindo brought it.

“Thank you Kuya for defending teachers against Dre’s illegal orders,” said Saphire. He was not taking any tea. I have never seen him take tea anyway.

“It pays to have teachers like you who care about the welfare of others.” He then looked at the three new teachers and told them never accept to be used.

A LOT OF MONEY

“Even if you are not receiving a lot of money, please stand up for your rights,” he said

Nzomo supported him: “Guys if you are not careful you will soon become a door mat for the big people here.”

“You are very right Nzomo,” added Saphire. And looking to the three he added. “If I were you I would listen to Kuya, the true teachers’ deputy!” There was laughter in the staffroom but the point had been made: that there were two centres of power in the staffroom, especially in the absence of Bensouda.

“Not really Saphire,” said Kuya. “I am not the teacher’s deputy, but I speak for the voiceless.”  This did not help much and by the end of that Thursday, everyone was referring to him as the teacher’s deputy.

CLEANING

A week earlier, we had set aside Friday afternoon as a cleaning day. All classes would be cancelled and pupils would be involved in thorough cleaning of the school, supervised by the teachers.

“We don’t have to be here Dre,” said Kuya. “The teachers on duty and prefect can easily manage this.” Once again, other teachers supported him. And come that afternoon, I struggled with the prefects alone to ensure that the cleaning happens. Even the new teaches did not show up.

As we go into the new week, I will have no option but to crack the whip, starting with the new teachers, who are not even valid teachers of this school. If they do not toe the line, I will deport them from this school back to  where they were languishing before!

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