The education crisis in the northeastern region may not be resolved any time soon following the stalemate between MPs and Education ministry officials, who last week failed to settle on a strategic way out. Both parties took hardline stance.
MPs from Wajir, Mandera and Garissa counties complained, and rightly so, when more than 3,000 non-local teachers were transferred from the region last month. This was due to terrorist attacks that targeted non-locals. But the withdrawal of the teachers has thrown education in the region into a crisis.
DISCRIMINATORY
According to leaders from the region, the action by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was inconsiderate, impulsive and discriminatory.
They demanded that if the teachers could not be brought back to class, local Form Four leavers be allowed to enrol in teacher training colleges with lower credentials and then posted to the schools to deal with the staffing crunch.
But the ministry rejected the proposal as simplistic. Lowering entry grades would be tantamount to sacrificing the quality of education, it said, and argued that it had an obligation to ensure its employees were not put at risk in the course of official duties.
The most unfortunate point about the teacher deficit in the region, however, is that it has been recurring over the past decade.
In a cyclic pattern, a terrorist attack is waged on non-locals, TSC withdraws panicky teachers, outraged leaders condemn the government, citing marginalisation and the blame game continues.
FATALLY ATTACKED
According to TSC figures, more than 40 teachers have been fatally attacked in recent years and many others injured. Thousands have been transferred as others quit the profession altogether, leaving learners in the region unattended.
However, the MPs wield power and influence in the region and should, therefore, push for a lasting solution to the problem, which is tackling insecurity. Rather than express outrage and train their guns on the Education ministry every time teachers flee classrooms, the northeastern MPs — both senators and members of the National Assembly — should use their powers to push the Interior ministry to secure schools in the region.
By blaming the Education ministry and TSC for the crisis, the leaders are not only missing the point but abdicating their role as their people’s first defenders. The terror gangs roaming northeastern are, certainly, not insurmountable. Some of them are known by residents, which is why elected leaders have a role in helping to rout them.
Teachers and other workers in any part of the country have to be assured of their safety if they are to serve there.
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