TSC reaffirm Commission’s commitment to defend teachers against attacks by host communities
Jamleck Muturi, the Chairperson of the Teacher Service Commission (TSC), has restated the Commission’s dedication to protecting teachers from host community attacks, as long as teachers adhere to the law.
Addressing the audience in Embu on Sunday, Muturi emphasized the importance of respecting the teaching profession, stating that those who threaten teachers will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
He encouraged parents with concerns about teachers to utilize Boards of Management or other suitable channels to express their grievances.
“As a commission we are going to protect our head teachers, deputy head teachers, principals and teachers so long as they [are] within the law,” he said.
Mururi cautioned that subjecting teachers to humiliation poses a potential threat to the effective delivery of education.
“It was very demeaning to see a head teacher [being] frog-marched in full glare of pupils. How do you expect the head teacher to manage those pupils later?” he posed.
Muturi’s comments followed the recent transfer of teachers by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) from St. Martin Mafuta Secondary School in Uasin Gishu and St. Gabriel Isonga Secondary School in Kakamega.
The transfers were prompted by hostility from host communities towards the teachers.
Enraged parents took matters into their own hands, forcibly removing school principals from the two schools and attributing the poor results of the 2023 KCSE examinations to the teachers.
In response, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) took action by transferring six teachers from St. Martin Mafuta Secondary and 17 teachers from St. Gabriel Isonga Secondary.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu condemned the attacks in a statement on Friday, highlighting that the dramatic expulsions posed a risk to impeding students’ fundamental right to access education.
“While the invasion of schools and attack on teachers is unfortunate and we cannot allow it to continue, we have to adopt carefully consultative means of ensuring that we do not deprive children of their right to education,” Machogu appealed.
