Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has arrived at a guilty verdict on the teachers based in the North Eastern region who were purported to have deserted duty, the disciplinary actions taken varying from one to the other.
According to letters sent by the TSC to individual teachers, they have been found guilty of desertion and have received suspensions or warnings.
One of the teachers interviewed by Education News said he had been charged with deserting duty and suspended for one month. Furthermore, the letter mentions that any salary overpayment will be recovered from him based on the payroll records.
Another, also found guilty of desertion, received a warning. Similarly, salary overpayments will be recovered from his account.
Those are two examples of the about two hundred teachers who ran for their lives earlier this year after several of their colleagues were either killed or injured in the hands of outlaws suspected to be Al Shaabab operatives.
They have been pleading with TSC to transfer them to safer places, away from the hostile environment where they claim even the locals utterly discriminate against them despite being the teachers of their children.
But TSC would hear none of that, ordering them to report back to their stations or face the sack.
The standoff culminated in the teachers being summoned to show cause why they should not face disciplinary action for desertion of duty.
Nevertheless, the Kenya Teachers In Hardship Arid Areas Welfare Association (KETHAWA) is planning to take legal action against the TSC for the drastic action it has taken.
It intends to seek a legal interpretation from the courts as to whether when a person abandons duty due to insecurity, which poses a threat to life, it can be considered an offence under administrative law.
“We, as KETHAWA, are determined to challenge these disciplinary actions in court to ensure that the warnings and suspensions, which could have a permanent impact on the teachers’ careers, are lifted,” revealed an official from the association.
By Amos Kerich
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