By Arnold Neliba
KAKAMEGA, JANUARY 19, 2024 (CISA)-Stakeholders in the education sector have for the second day continued to engage to resolve the crisis at St Gabriel Isongo Secondary School in the Catholic Diocese of Kakamega.
This follows the decision by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to transfer all 17 teachers from the school as per the demands of the teachers’ unions following a public protest at the school over poor performance in the recently released 2023 KCSE examination.
“All TSC teachers have indeed been transferred. Some have been taken to the neighbouring schools while others have been moved out of Kakamega County. The issue to do with the replacement of teachers and how long it will take lies fully with TSC,” said Kakamega County Education Director Hellen Nyangáu.
The teacher’s employer TSC is said to have succumbed to pressure from the teachers’ unions: Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) who argued that the safety of the teachers at the school was not guaranteed.
Fr Ferdinand Lugonzo, parish priest of the newly created Divine Mercy Parish, Khaimba present at the school alongside TSC officials, Deputy County Commissioner, Subcounty education officers and area political leaders regretted the decision, arguing that it greatly affects the learners.
“We are sorry and we apologize on behalf of the parents and the school but we were shocked by the TSC move. We plead with the commission to reinstate teachers to the school as we seek reconciliation with the teachers’ employers. We had 17 TSC teachers and 14 others under BOM and after the transfer of the teachers by the commission we have remained with board teachers and they are the ones who will run the school and conduct learning as we follow up with the commission on addressing the issue,” said Fr Lugonzo, the immediate former Secretary General of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB).
The decision by TSC has seemingly affected the ongoing form-one admission process and paralyzed learning with about 1000 students caught up in the crisis.
Details have emerged that local politics surrounded the running of the institution, with the principal accused of sidelining the board of management in key decisions. Compounded with poor grades, the principal was under fire from the community and thus, unceremoniously chased away from the school during the protests.
