Knut opposes delocalisation of teachers, threatens to sue TSC  

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has threatened to sue the teachers’ employer over appraisals.

Mandera County branch Secretary-General Kulo Mohamed said on Sunday that most of local school heads expose teachers’ personal information while filling appraisal forms in cyber cafes in Mandera town.

“Many of our local teachers in Mandera are not computer literate, forcing them to take their personal documents to cyber cafes as they fill appraisal forms,” said Mr Mohamed.

According to Knut, those helping the teachers fill the forms collect data from unsuspecting customers which could be used to implicate them.

EASY TARGETS

“We live in an insecure area where teachers could be easy targets of terror gangs and exposing their personal information at makeshift cyber cafes is dangerous,” he said.

Mr Mohamed wants TSC to revert to the manual method and send education officers to schools to appraise teachers.

“Digital appraisal of teachers is not a bad idea but the TSC must consider the different working environments of teachers across the country,” he said.

Knut warned that should the TSC force teachers to fill appraisal forms in cyber cafes, the union would sue the teachers’ employer.

OPPOSED DELOCALISATION

Mr Mohamed also opposed the delocalisation of head teachers, saying only local teachers understood the security situation in Mandera.  

“Let school heads stay and work where they are comfortable, why post a head teacher in an area where he doesn’t even understand the surrounding,” he said.

Mr Mohamed warned that if the TSC proceeds with the delocalisation process, it will be rocking the already ailing education sector in Mandera County.