Teachers’ unions cry foul over recruitment as court orders suspension of process

Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion flanked by the Chairman Mudzo Nzili (left) address a press conference alongside Union members in Nairobi 28/09/2015 where they called on Teachers to stay away from schools until the court determines their case [ PHOTO/DAVID NJAAGA]

Recruitment of teachers by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) continued across the country even as unions ran parallel campaigns to thwart it.

Poor turnout marked the exercise in Taita Taveta County where TSC officials said 134 teachers had filled employment forms by last evening.

TSC County Director Victoria Muoka said the region had been allocated 538 slots. The director said 120 primary and 14 secondary school teachers had been enlisted.

In Homa Bay, TSC county officials said they were overwhelmed by the numbers. County TSC Director Diosiana Ahindukha said 210 teachers had been recruited by close of business on Thursday. She said 170 were for primary and 40 for secondary.

“The exercise is ongoing and those who have reported for the recruitment are more. I believe the exercise will be successful,” said Ahindukha.

She said the recruited teachers were served with deployment letters and are expected to report to schools on Monday. She also said they intend to recruit 1,920 and 795 teachers for primary and secondary schools, respectively.

In Kisumu County, 55 applicants (45 primary and 10 secondary) have already been vetted. Area TSC Director Patrick Nyagosia said they received more than 100 applications.

“The applications are more than 100. We turned down many others who did not meet the required qualifications,” he said.

“We realised so many applicants were going to our sub county offices but we have now directed that all of them should apply at the county offices,” he added.

In Nyamira, desperate job seekers flocked TSC offices to place their applications. The exercise, according to the regional TSC boss John Odongo, will achieve its target.

But as the recruitment continued, the Nyamira sub-branch Knut Executive Secretary Julius Matwere insisted teachers would counter any effort to neutralize their strike.

“The government is playing a game it knows very well it will lose because we will never allow the newly recruited teachers to access our facilities. We will fight back by all means,” said Matwere.

In Kilifi, at least 100 contract teachers were recruited. According to Kilifi TSC director Caroline Mwakisha, the exercise kicked off yesterday with several applicants turning up.

Speaking to The Standard on Saturday yesterday, Mrs Mwakisha said by around 3pm yesterday, 96 teachers had been recruited. Mwakisha said out of the 96, 64 were primary school teachers while 32 will teach in secondary schools.

Bad faith?

But local Knut officials led by Patrick Rasi termed the recruitment as a move aimed at scaring teachers who have been on strike. ‘The government, through TSC, is not sincere. The recruitment is meant to teachers to scare teachers to abandon their strike  and go back to class without being paid what the courts had awarded them,” said Mr Rasi.

In Nakuru, the TSC offices were a beehive of activity yesterday after hundreds of job seekers heeded the recruitment call by government.

Charles Kamotho, a 65-year-old, was among those who were turned away after his age could not fit in the 18-45 age bracket indicated by TSC in the recruitment notice published in the local dailies.

The retrenched former civil servant and a 1969 A Levels graduate from Kagumo Teachers College said he had defied his age to try his luck.

“The response here is good and its encouraging that the government has considered them. Those fueling the teacher’s strike are people above 50 years of age waiting to retire. They should not be allowed to hold our children at ransom,” said Kamotho, who specialised in Mathematics, Geography and English.

He was joined by hundreds of youthful graduates from various universities and tertiary collages across the country in a day long exercise that saw them formally apply for employment.

At the county TSC offices, applicants lined up patiently. They described the process as fair and timely.

“We are ready to offer services regardless of the period of time we are expected to be in employment. For a long time, we have been in the cold,” said Judith Wangombe from Molo sub-county.

She is a graduate of Kenyatta University with a Bachelor’s degree in Education but has been unemployed since 2011 when she left campus.

When contacted, County TSC Director Esther Muiri alluded to a large turnout but could not give the exact figures.