TSC accused of failing to lift education standards

Leaders from North Eastern have hit out at the Teachers Service Commission, accusing it of being the weakest link in improving education standards.

Speaking in Bura East where they were hosted by area MP Salah Yakub (Fafi), they said they are doing their best to address education challenges but TSC has been a stumbling block.

The leaders included Abdikadir Hussein (Lagdera), Adan Daud (Wajir East) and Yussuf Farah (Wajir West).

Yakub, who recently launched a free milk programme for all public primary schools in his constituency, said lack of teachers is likely to erode the gains realised.

He said the initiative has led to a surge in enrolments.

“Unfortunately, the numbers do not match the number of teachers, thereby greatly compromising the education standards,” he said.

The legislator said the leaders' pleas to the teachers’ employer to post more teachers to match the enrolment and replace those who left due to insecurity have fallen on deaf ears.

Hussein said that while they are working hard to improve the education standard by ensuring that no child drops out of school because of fees, TSC is not keeping its side of the bargain.

“Just the other day, I issued bursary cheques worth Sh76 million for needy students in secondary and another for 60 teachers training at Garissa Teachers' College,” he said.

“These are long-term solutions, but for now, we need these teachers in our schools to cover the serious shortfall.”

“My message to TSC is that as leaders, we are also adding infrastructure and equipping schools in our respective constituencies to allow for more schoolchildren to enrol and transit. Please don’t let us down,” Hussein said.

Farah accused the TSC of declining to act on thetask-force recommendation that will allow for the lowering of entry grades for students from the region to join teachers’ colleges.

The task force, called the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, released its report in August.

“I hear that TSC is planning to deny our students certification that will deny those willing to join colleges a chance to train as teachers,” he said.

“As MPs from the region, we will fight for this clause.”

He said that as long as TSC was the one charged with employing and recruiting teachers, then the problem will remain unsolved.

Daud said the time has come for Parliament to pass a bill that will reduce the immense power TSC wields, which he blamed for the country's education problems.

For the past 10 years, the number of non-local teachers leaving the region due to insecurity has led to an acute shortage of teachers in  primary and secondary schools.

According to TSC staffing data in Mandera county, 1,387 local teachers are teaching in primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools.

Of this, 889 are non-locals. In Wajir, 1,221 are non-locals, whereas Garissa has 808 locals and 1,136 non-locals.