By KIPCHUMBA KEMEI
Education official terms as sabotage commission’s decision to transfer teachers mid-year
The on-going teachers’ transfer has paralysed learning in Narok, District Education Officer (DEO) Kuyo Sawoinah has said.
He blamed the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for poor planning and asked the commission to ensure the transfers do not disrupt learning.
“The commission’s move amounts to sabotage. The on-going transfers which is carried out mid-year when candidates are preparing for mock and final exams is uncalled for and it should be halted,” he said yesterday.
Sawoinah added: “The transfers, which are being carried out in piece meal is detrimental to good performance. Most schools in rural areas have a big deficit which has paralyzed learning.”
The area TSC Staffing Officer David Munguti said teachers who have stayed in particular schools for long were being targeted for transfers, adding letters of transfer were dispatched the first week of the opening term.
“The commission has no intention of paralysing learning in schools. We are transferring those who have stayed for too long in one station,” said Munguti.
But the DEO wondered why the transfers could not be done at the beginning of the year, saying should schools perform poorly in the forthcoming national examinations TSC should be blamed.
Rural schools
The move to starve rural schools off teachers who perform well in their subjects, he claimed was a ploy to weaken them and strengthen those in urban areas.
“The transfers, which are done under the table are meant to strengthen some schools. It is also a fact that some teachers want to move to urban areas to access facilities which are not in rural areas,” he said and petitioned TSC headquarters to intervene.
Early in the week, pupils and parents of a primary school in Tipis area, Narok North walked for about 62 km to TSC Narok town offices to protest the transfers.
