Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, on Wednesday, February 26, issued a fresh directive regarding the protracted teacher crisis in North-Eastern Kenya.
Speaking during a special seating held by the National Assembly's Committee on Education to discuss the mass transfer of teachers from the region, the CS stated that the 20,058 students who scored C plain and above in KCSE 2019, would be trained to serve as teachers in the region.
"I am aware that there are 24,058 students in the North-Eastern region who scored grade C plain and above. I don't see why we cannot train them to be teachers, to teach in their own locality," Magoha told the committee chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly.
"The Leadership of the Northern region should identify students fit to be trained as teachers, so they can be trained a soon as possible," he further stated.
His radical solution to the crisis currently facing schools in the highly volatile region comes in the wake of numerous cases of non-local teachers abandoning their post for safety concerns.
Also present at the seating was Inspector General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai, who went on to promise extra deployment of police in the region.
However, Malava MP Malulu Injedi, questioned the credibility of Mutyambai's announcement as he went on to raise pertinent questions regarding the fatal attacks of non-local teachers in the area.
"Now that the IG is talking of massive deployment of police officers to the area, what's the situation truly like? And, is the IG sure that the attacks emanate from bordering Somalia as he implied? How sure is the IG that the locals aren't the threat?" he posed.
His sentiments were echoed by Matayos lawmaker Geoffrey Odanga, who expressed scepticism regarding the identity of those behind some of the attacks that have led to the current crisis.
"We need to establish the underlying issues of this matter. If it's al-Shabaab attacking the non-local teachers as implied by the IG, what could be their reason, to only attack non-locals?" Odanga questioned.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general Wilson Sossion who was also present during the interactive session urged the Teacher's Service Commission to consider the safety of the non-local teachers when it came to granting requests for transfers.
"It is not an easy thing to comprehend that every few days, we bury teachers. Let us not be emotional about this issue, but strive to find a lasting solution to the issues raised," he stressed.
TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia defended the withdrawal of teachers from the region, going on to state that 42 teachers had been killed in terror attacks in the region since 2014.
