It’s so sad how mature and so well educated teachers as they call themselves would think of having sex with girls of 12 and 13 years of age.
This has been the case for a couple of days now with little primary school girls getting pregnant others even missing their final or doing their final exams while in hospital giving birth.
According to the Teachers Service Commission, atleast 32 teachers were sacked last month for having sex with students.
Speaking in Mombasa during the release of this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results, TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia gave a warning saying, “The commission, like everyone else, is alarmed by the large number of teenage pregnancies. Of concern is that some of our head teachers and teachers into whose care these children are entrusted are complicit. The commission is taking this very seriously and those found guilty will be dealt with accordingly.”
Ms. Macharia also urged private schools to employ teachers registered by TSC.
In addition the CS Amina Mohammed said, “We also ask other government agencies to deal with the criminal aspects of these cases in accordance to the law. A few miscreants cannot be allowed to ruin our children. But as a society, we must do some retrospection. What’s happened to our moral fabric! Parents relegating everything to the teacher! That we can’t protect our young ones and are busy luring them to the devil’s den.”
Additionally CS Amina Mohamed said teenage pregnancies are at an all-time high, noting that nine candidates delivered during the exams.
She said preliminary reports show that the magnitude of the problem is much bigger than the government initially thought.
While speaking during the release of the 2018 KCPE results,“I wish to caution the country that the problem of underage pregnancies must not be viewed as a burden of the Ministry of Education alone. We broke the silence. It is a multisectoral challenge that calls for concerted efforts across a broad spectrum of players to be stemmed. The law is clear on defilement. And no one is above the law. ”
“There is also a standing ministerial team finalising standard operating procedures to be rolled out in schools to increase safety and security. We must, and will, make schools safe and secure zones for every child in this country,” Ms Mohamed said.
She called on parents, guardians and the community to inculcate good behaviour in, and protect, children.
“We must reject the individualism of child responsibility and honour the wisdom of our ancestors that it takes a village to raise a child. We all have a responsibility to protect these children,” she added.
She further added saying , “I issued clear guidelines on schooling time and I expect those guidelines to be followed to the letter. We will not compromise the safety of our learners for a few extra hours of tuition. Most of our children are falling prey to paedophiles and opportunists. I also wish to reiterate that holiday tuition is still prohibited. Stern action will be taken against persons who go against this directive,” she said.