Lamu Leaders express their worry on Transfer of teachers from the region

Lamu Woman Rep Ruweida Obbo. /FILE

Lamu leaders and parents have rejected the transfer of teachers, saying it is weakening an already fragile education sector in the region.

About 5,000 school heads and teachers reported to new institutions this January in the third phase of transfers commissioned by the Teachers Service Commission.

The transfers which affected more than 3,000 institutions, also affected 195 long-serving principals, their deputies and teachers.

Also to be transferred in the move are secondary school heads managing the county and subcounty schools, who were not affected in the first and second phase of the transfers, a move Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion described as bullying.

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Last December, Knut had called a strike ahead of the schools re-opening to push for implementation of their CBA.

Issues the union wanted to be addressed included a stop of delocalisation, performance contracting and implementation of promotions.

Lamu Woman Rep Ruweida Obbo said many teachers are unwilling to work in Lamu because of security concerns.

Speaking in Lamu on Tuesday, she said the county is facing a shortage of teachers.

The worst affected schools are those in Basuba ward, Lamu East subcounty, which has borne the brunt of many al Shabaab attacks.

Many schools in the area remain closed.

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Obbo urged the government to intervene and have Lamu exempted from the delocalisation programme.

She said considering no one else wants to work in their schools, local teachers can stay and teach in them.

“The delocalisation programme is good, but not for Lamu. We need our own teachers to stay here. People don’t want to come and work in Lamu. Our schools are currently facing serious teacher shortages. Those posted here by TSC don’t want to work here,” Obbo said.

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Her sentiments were echoed by the Boni minority community which believes that if Lamu is exempted from the delocalisation programme, all five schools that have remained closed for the last five years will finally open for learning.

“If teachers from other parts of Kenya don’t want to work here, let our own locals here be employed so they can help their brothers and sisters. We believe locals have a clear understanding of the situation and will help if allowed,” Mushale Rahima, of Basuba ward, said.

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