By Abiud Ochieng, Nairobi KENYA
As the simmering animosity
between teachers posted in the northern parts of the country and their host
communities comes to a head with constant terror attacks, learners are bearing
the brunt of the standoff.
A classroom at a primary school in Wajir South. Several schools in Wajir County now face closure after TSC transferred non-local teachers from the region following attacks by Al-Shabaab militants. |
Education has been hit hard ever since non-local
teachers fled the region following repeated attacks by armed men believed to be
militants from the Al-Shabaab terrorist group.
The local leadership has been piling pressure on
the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to facilitate their immediate return but
the teachers’ employer is reluctant to agree without adequate guarantees of its
workers’ safety.
A court case seeking the withdrawal of teachers
over security concerns and two others seeking orders compelling the tutors to
return to the region have further complicated matters.
There is an order issued by the Employment and
Labour Relations Court on October 8, 2018 restraining the TSC from posting
teachers to North Eastern until the application is heard and determined.
The order was issued following an application by
the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), which had requested that the TSC be
compelled to move non-local teachers to safer regions.
“The terror
group has systematically attacked non-locals, sometimes with full knowledge of
the local communities,” said KHRC in court papers, adding that non-local
teachers are discriminated against on grounds of religion and cultural
background.
The Attorney-General had argued that the matter
raises substantial questions of law and that Chief Justice David Maraga should
be requested to appoint a three-judge bench to hear and determine the case.
One of the constitutional questions to be
determined is whether the court has jurisdiction to interfere in administrative
functions of the TSC.
Employment court Judge Hellen Wasilwa declined to
grant the AG’s request, saying that, if allowed, it would further delay the
case.
Another application is pending before the High
Court filed by Haki Na Sheria Initiative, Pastrolist Girls Initiative,
Womankind Kenya, Arid Lands Development Focus (Kenya), Wajir South Development
Association, Napad and Racid.
The lobbies are fighting the mass transfers on
grounds that this will infringe on the region’s children’s right to education.
Last month, a petitioner, Mr Hussein Kussow Yarrow,
filed yet another application against TSC and its chief executive officer,
Nancy Macharia, protesting against the mass transfer of non-local teachers
from Garissa, Mandera and Wajir, arguing that it violates their
constitutional right to education.
A total of 2,340 non-local teachers were
transferred following a pre-dawn attack in Kamuthe in Garissa County in
January, in which three tutors died.
The TSC has filed a preliminary objection against
Mr Kussow’s application, arguing that it raises issues already in the other
cases and should be dismissed.
The Al-Shabaab attack on a Nairobi-bound bus
outside Mandera Town in November 2014, which killed 28 people, mostly teachers
who were travelling home for Christmas, kicked off the exodus.
In January 2015, some 1,400 non-local teachers
camped at the TSC headquarters in Nairobi, demanding transfers.
The cases, and others yet to be filed relating to
the education crisis in North Eastern, are going to be litigated in an
environment where the employer has vowed to protect its workers.
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