By Roy Hezron
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Samburu Branch Executive Secretary William Lengoyiap has decried the few slots of teachers allocated to Samburu County by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in the recent recruitment exercise stating that it was unfair and discriminating.
Lengoyiap told Education News that majority of the schools in the County are understaffed and the few teachers in those schools are overworked adding that School Principals have been advised to write reports everytime and TSC never works on it to staff the schools.
“We are seeking to know how Samburu County has over the years been getting reduced teachers slots with increased schools and learners enrolment. We promise to take action on any one who perpetrates unfairness and injustices to the people of Samburu County,” said Lengoyiap.
He states that the teachers and leaners from the arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) including Samburu have for a long time been discriminated over promotions and the right to proper education respectively.
“We are thinking of getting partners so that they come and see this abuse of children rights with their own eyes. We call upon children rights department to come and witness this injustice to children and how this load is transferred to teachers,” he said.
“The sad part is they promote teachers based on performance and the employer knows how these schools are understaffed. This is an injustice and unfairness of monumental proportions.” he added.
He stated that they had received complaints from teachers following the recent recruitment that the shortlisting process done at the TSC headquarters was unfairly done and as a union they were taking the complaints with the seriousness it deserves.
“TSC online applications are prone to abuse, not ruling out hacking. For this, we advise all our people who have qualified, applied and have failed to be in the shortlist to register their formal complaint to the TSC Director office and copy us the same,” added Lengoyiap.
Regarding security of the region, Lengoyiap stated that they are demanding for increased security especially for teachers teaching in Baragoi since it has been a danger zone, advising teachers in the area to flee to safer areas awaiting directions from the union national office and the employer, TSC.
He was reacting to a recent incident where Cyrus James Kurkura, an English Literature teacher at Baragoi Boys Secondary school was killed by armed criminals on July 25, 2022 in broad daylight.
In February this year 2022 the Director of Public Prosecution(DPP) Noordin Haji threatened to take action against the TSC for failing to put in place policies that protect teachers in areas of the country prone to insecurity.
According to DPP Haji, it is the responsibility of the commission to find solutions to issues affecting teachers in insecurity prone areas and not the community nor the citizens.
