By John Majau
Teachers working in remote areas of Meru County should be given hardship allowances, leaders and residents in Tigania West constituency have said.
Speaking at Kanjalu Girls’ High School during the Sub County education forum, they said this will motivate them and help address the perennial problem of staff turnover.
Tigania West MP John Mutunga said denying teachers these allowances were to blame for the poor performance in exams.
He said the move will inevitably contain cases of mass exodus of teachers as they will feel motivated and appreciated for their sacrifice.
The lawmaker urged Teachers Service Commission to liaise with the national government and ensure that the entire constituency is classified as a hardship area, just like Isiolo and Tharaka Sub-counties.
“The greatest problem we are currently facing is lack of hardship allowance yet the entire constituency is remote. I urge the national government to ensure that the entire Sub-county is classified as a hardship area in order to attract and retain teachers in the area,” the Tigania West MP said.
He pointed out that many of the schools affected are understaffed, because teachers have either refused to be posted to the region, or have sought transfers to places they can earn the allowance.
The leader also raised concerns over the poor education standards in the area and called for concerted efforts from all the education stakeholders to reverse the dwindling education fortunes.
He further blamed an array of other factors, including indiscipline amongst students, drug and alcohol abuse, lack of role models and conflicts between head teachers and Boards of management.
Cautioning teachers not to seek promotion based on their age, he advised them to instead push for it based on their performance.
