- KNUT has withdrawn 59 teachers from four Oldonyiro Ward schools after escalating insecurity, with 50 of them being non‑locals.
- The move follows the violent assault on Robert Kinyua and the earlier killing of Deputy Principal William Gatobu, both targeted while commuting from school.
- KNUT and KUPPET insist teachers will not return until attackers are arrested, stolen property recovered, and safety guarantees provided.
Learning has stalled indefinitely in four public primary schools in Oldonyiro Ward, Isiolo County, after the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) ordered its members to down their tools over what it termed unrelenting insecurity in the area.
The union announced on Friday that it had withdrawn 59 teachers from Lengwenyi, Kipsing, Lengurma and Nooloroi Primary Schools, all situated in the lower parts of Oldonyiro, a zone that has repeatedly recorded attacks on teaching staff. Of the affected teachers, 50 are non-locals and only nine are drawn from the local community, according to details shared during the announcement.
KNUT Isiolo Branch Executive Secretary Hassan Diba and Union Chairperson Timothy Kimathi announced while addressing journalists in Isiolo town, shortly after an emergency meeting convened by union officials to deliberate on the deteriorating security situation facing teachers posted in the area.
The withdrawal follows an attack on Robert Kinyua, a teacher at Lengwenyi Primary School, who was ambushed by armed bandits on Tuesday evening as he rode his motorbike home to Kipsing after finishing his duties at school. The assailants made away with his motorbike and mobile phone, leaving him with serious injuries. Kinyua underwent surgery and remains hospitalised.
“Our member suffered grievous bodily harm and is currently admitted to a hospital after undergoing an operation,” Kimathi said.
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The assault on Kinyua has revived painful memories of a similar attack barely three months ago, in which William Gatobu, then Deputy Principal at Leparua Mixed Day Secondary School near Lengwenyi, was shot and stabbed eight times to death while riding home from school on his motorbike. Gatobu’s killing had already put teachers in the area on edge, and Kinyua’s attack has now pushed the union to act.
Moses Kimwere, Executive Secretary of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers’ (KUPPET) Isiolo Branch, who joined the KNUT officials at the briefing, described the pattern of the attacks as troubling, noting that they appear to specifically target teachers who are not from the local community.
Kimwere said the unions have petitioned the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to consider posting only local teachers to schools within Oldonyiro Ward, arguing that such a move would help end the targeting of non-local staff and allow learners from the community to be taught without further disruption.
According to Diba, the affected teachers will not return to class until the union’s conditions are fully met. These include the identification, arrest and prosecution of those behind the attack on Kinyua, the recovery of all property stolen from him, and firm guarantees for the safety of teachers working in the area.
The union officials were categorical that the wellbeing of teachers takes precedence, warning that no learning will resume in the affected schools even when the third term opens if the security concerns raised with the county security team remain unaddressed by then.
Despite the standoff, KNUT and KUPPET officials called on teachers in the area to remain calm, assuring them that the matter was receiving attention from both the county security team, led by the county commissioner, and the Teachers Service Commission.
By Masaki Enock
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