Kuppet petitions TSC to transfer teachers over hostile community
Education
By
Stanley Ongwae
| Feb 06, 2024
The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has petitioned the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to transfer teachers from a Nyamira school where they are allegedly at risk of being lynched by the community.
The nine teachers of Mogusii Mixed Secondary School in Borabu Sub-county have not reported to duty for three weeks now after the community allegedly warned them against going near the institution which performed poorly in the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
On Tuesday, members of the union led by the Chairman George Makaa, Executive Secretary Lewis Nyakweba, Vice Chairman George Ayieko, Branch Treasurer Stella Moturi and assistant Secretary Festus Segera matched to TSC Nyamira county offices where they sought audience with the Deputy Director Collins Ariko after they failed to find the Director Catherine Mwenda who was away.
The officials matched alongside the affected teachers to the county headquarters where they also addressed the County Director of Education, Joseph Kaga.
The unionists said the hostility against the teachers was related to land conflict involving the school and the surrounding community.
"There are about four active cases on the same land where the school sits and even around it. We don't want our teachers to be killed or injured because of the wrangles," Makaa said.
Nyakweba claimed that irate villagers stormed the staff room on January 15 and frog-matched the teachers after pelting stones at the buildings.
"They stormed the school and frog-matched the teachers in front of their learners in a very humiliating manner before ordering them not to come near the school henceforth," he said.
The Kuppet Executive Secretary said that before the teachers resolved to stay away, three had been frog-matched by youths who questioned why they were defying orders to keep off the institution.
The union claimed that security agents were reluctant to address the matter due to the people involved in the wrangles.
Currently, the school has only 50 students, half of the population that was there in 2023.
Nyakweba noted that in the 2023 KCSE exams the school got a mean score of 2.9.
However, even as Kuppet took the matter to TSC, Nyamira County Police Commander Agnes Amojong said her office had not received any reports related to the incident.