School closes after sponsorship woes

By Marion Ndung’u

Nyeri County

Workers at the troubled Tumutumu School for the Deaf were on Wednesday asked to leave after a church took over the institution.

The workers, some who are also deaf, were asked to vacate the premises by 3pm. “We were not even given notice to leave, they just told us in the morning we have to leave by three,” said one worker.

They then camped at Kaiyaba grounds, pondering their next move. This was after they petitioned for an extension of the deadline for vacating. The deadline was extended to today (Thursday) but many workers said they do not know their fate.

“They told us they will extend the deadline but asked us not to go back to the school until they call us. They also told us to tell parents to look for other schools in the meantime,” said a worker.

The workers also demanded letters showing they were no longer working for the institution. One worker claimed they had not been paid since October last year.

The school has been at a centre of a tag of war between the PCEA Church and the Government, after the church refused to hand over the school to the Government prompting the Government to withdraw its teachers. The school did not open this year. The Standard has been unable to reach the church headquarters for comment.

The PCEA Church leadership has opposed a move by the Government to register the school to the local District Education Board (DEB) terming the move as a way of controling the church sponsored schools.

 The Teachers Service Commission withdrew the 15 special teachers attached to the school. The special school had  a total number of 150 pupils including 15 standard eight candidates.

The school is located in Mathira Constituency, Nyeri County.