Students in Wajir Storm County Commissioner's Officers over Teachers' Transfers

Students along with other residents of Wajir County on Thursday stormed the County Commissioner's office as they demanded the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) deploy teachers to the area after initiating mass transfers over security concerns.

The students were drawn from 218 primary schools and 42 secondary schools in the county.

They accused the government of failing to provide adequate security, which they blamed for the rise in teachers demanding transfers from the county.

They further decried continued marginalization by the state, and carried placards with messages such as 'Wajir ni Kenya (Wajir is Kenya)', 'Bring back our teachers', 'Macharia (TSC CEO) Must Go' and 'Mr President Uko? (Where are you Mr President?)'.

Wajir West MP Abdikader Ore also called for the government to deploy teachers to Wajir and ensure they feel safe.

[caption caption="Students outside the County Commissioner's office on 15th March 2018"][/caption]

"Doesn't the constitution apply to children of North Eastern Kenya ? Our children matter too," one Ore tweeted.

He blamed TSC for 'creating deliberate strategies to deny children from Northern Kenya their constitutional right.

On Wednesday, TSC announced the recruitment of 900 tutors to work in Wajir following the transfer of non-local teachers.

Chief executive Nancy Macharia stated that 585 teachers would be posted to primary schools and 315 to secondary schools in the county.

[caption caption="A student with a placard demanding the removal of TSC CEO Nancy Macharia"][/caption]

[caption caption="Students from Wajir Girls Secondary School demonstrating"][/caption]