The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has announced an all-year-round recruitment of teachers for the North Eastern region, following the mass exodus of teachers from the region over insecurity incidents. Last month, hundreds of teachers from Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties refused to report to their duty stations citing increased incidents of insecurity. However, TSC went ahead and interdicted them on grounds that they had deserted their duties when they held protests at TSC headquarters in Nairobi seeking to be transferred to other parts of the country. TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia, today while supervising the distribution of KCSE examination in Mombasa confirmed that the teachers who refused to return to work were interdicted and an investigation against their conduct is still ongoing. ‘Interdicted teachers are not fired, but rather, are facing suspension over certain allegations while investigations take place. The due process is being followed,’ said Macharia in Mombasa. Macharia said the TSC will continue to recruit more teachers for the North Eastern region throughout the year. ‘We recruit teachers for North Eastern throughout the year to replace those who have left. North Eastern is the only place that we do not close recruitment of teachers,’ said Macharia. According to reports, the North Eastern region needs more than 2,000 teachers to fill the gaps in public primary and secondary schools. In 2014, at least 28 teachers were killed after the bus they were travelling in was ambushed by suspected al-Shabab militants while travelling to Nairobi for the December holidays. TSC CEO Nancy Macharia briefs the press after witnessing the handing over of KCSE examination papers. Macharia said recruitment of teachers happens at the sub-county level, this therefore, is to encourage more locals in North Eastern to take up teaching jobs in those regions. Macharia said Kenya still has a shortage of Islamic Religious Education, and Physics teachers among other key subjects. ‘It is not that we do not have teachers to recruit, but due to inadequate resources. If we get adequately funded, we will recruit more teachers to fill those gaps,’ said Macharia. At the same time, Macharia said a total of 101, 376 secondary school teachers will administer the KCSE examination. ‘Only secondary school teachers will be allowed to be invigilators, supervisors and centre managers for KCSE. No primary school teacher or any other person is allowed,’ she said. She said the directive is in line with the compliance of the regulations given by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC). She said all the teachers who are administering the examinations were vetted by TSC. At the coast region, the examination kicked off smoothly in all six counties of the coast region, despite the heavy rains that were experienced last week. ‘We are hoping for the best and everything has been put in place to ensure the exams distribution succeeds countrywide,’ said Macharia. She said a multi-agency team is working around the country to ensure the examination period is smooth even in those areas that are not easily accessible. ‘For those areas that are not accessible, the government is ready and we have choppers on standby to airlift these exams. So far, we do not have any challenges, but in case of any problems, we are ready to tackle them,’ she said.

Source: Kenya News Agency