Despite the National Assembly recommending hardship allowances to teachers in Taita Taveta County, teachers in some parts of the county have never received them.
According to Wundanyi MP Danson Mwashako, most teachers are yet to receive their hardship allowances despite the area being classified as a hardship area.
The MP asked Education CS Ezekiel Machogu and the Teachers Service Commission to fast-track the process and ensure that affected teachers receive their allowances.
“On matters of hardship allowances, it’s so unfortunate that it’s still outstanding in most parts of the county despite Parliament recommending it. Teachers have continued suffering because of lack of allowances. I urge the TSC and the CS for Education to urgently consider this so that our teachers get what they deserve,” he said.
He added, “Some schools have been closed down due to attacks from elephants, some schools have been affected by prolonged drought with seven years of no rain. Most schools have no network connection as well as inadequate housing. Some teachers stay up to 6 kilometers away from school and still the government fails to include them, especially in Wundanyi.”
Speaking during the Prizegiving Day for best performing schools 2023 KCPE exams in sub-county, Mwashako reiterated that the matter has resulted to teachers seeking transfers to other areas leaving behind staffing gaps which he said leads to underperformance.
Mwashako disclosed that most teachers in the county are hired by Boards of Management (BoM) making school operations very expensive.
On his part, County Director of Education (CDE) Khalif Hirey acknowledged that there is a teacher shortage across the county, urging stakeholders to come together and seek solutions to solve the challenge.
However, despite the challenges many schools posted stellar results in both KCCPE and KCPE exams in 2023.
Having recorded a candidature of 7,163 in the KCSE exams, 1,251 students got direct university entries with only 6 students failing to take the exams.
Out of the total 1,251 students, Mwatate sub-county got 614, Wundanyi got 428, Voi got 137 and Taveta got 72 students.
According to the CDE, majority of the students will join colleges for Diploma and Certificate courses.
“The results were good. We had less than 10 Es in the whole county which we are very happy about,” said Hirey, adding that as a county they are targeting to send more than 2,000 students to university in the coming years.
By Michael Oduor | oduormichael2021@gmail.com
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