Teachers back North Eastern Kenya colleagues’ stand on insecurity

A meeting of school heads from Nyanza, which ended on Friday, resolved to back their colleagues in the North Eastern, who have defied TSC orders to resume work over insecurity.

Kenya National Union of Teachers Deputy Secretary General, Charles Katege, said the union stands in solidarity with the affected teachers and pledged to take security measures, for instance, relocating the teachers to safer locations in Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties.

“The union is not mandated to provide security to members, but to offer other services. Teachers, like any other employee in the country, need adequate security,” said Mr Katege.

While the teachers posted to North Eastern through KNUT have been pushing for transfers to safer regions, TSC insists they must resume duty at their previous work stations or risk being sacked.

Lake region Kenyan Primary School Head Teachers Association chairman Shem Ndolo said some of the local teachers, mainly drawn from Kisii and Siaya counties, were killed in the ill-fated Mandera bus attack last year that claimed 28 lives, eight of them from Kisii alone.

The three-day conference at Nyamasaria Primary School, Kisumu, was attended by more than 1,200 heads from Kisii, Nyamira, Kisumu, Migori, Homa Bay and Siaya counties, to assess gains made in 2014 and challenges affecting local schools.