The government has extended contracts of some teachers employed last year and recruited more to increase the teachers-pupils contact and to allow the requisite social distancing amid the covid-19 pandemic.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has extended the contracts of 47 teachers and recruited 124 new teachers to be deployed to needy schools in Tharaka Nithi County as a way of allowing students to observe the requisite social distancing as the schools resume to full capacity.
Tharaka Nithi TSC Director Abukar Hassan disclosed that the government has extended the contracts of 23 primary school and 24 secondary school teachers who had been recruited for the year 2020 and has signed new contracts for 55 primary school and 69 secondary school teachers in the county.
“The recruitment of additional teachers is aimed at alleviating understaffing in schools to increase the teacher-student contact to enable the syllabus be covered in time. Many of the teachers previously recruited on contract have already been absorbed into the permanent and pensionable basis,” disclosed the county TSC boss.
Speaking to reporters during a signing of contracts exercise at the DC’s grounds in Chuka town Thursday, Hassan further hailed the government of Uhuru Kenyatta and the TSC boss Nancy Macharia for recruiting teachers at a time that multinationals were laying off employees due to the Covid-19 economic crisis.
He further revealed that the newly recruited teachers have been taken through the TSC code of conduct and they would only have themselves to blame if they were interdicted for misconduct especially regarding having sexual affairs with students.
“I have been firm, fair and consistent in reminding teachers that anyone of them who is alleged to be having an affair with a school girl will be interdicted and if the allegations are proved beyond reasonable doubt then the consequences are lethal,” he stressed
The TSC director revealed that once such allegations were proved beyond reasonable doubt, the Commission would not only dismiss the culprit but would also remove them from the TSC register such that they could never be employed even in a private school in future.
He echoed sentiments that were given by the Interior CS Dr. Fred Matiang’i yesterday that the media fraternity should heed to the government’s directive of desisting from interrupting learning in schools but rather give good and timely information that would help learning to continue smoothly.
Dr. Matiang’i had expressed the sentiments at Ikuu Girls’ High School after visiting several schools in the county and disclosed that all senior government officers are employing the one government approach as directed by the president to ensure that the ‘Return to School Programme’ goes on smoothly.
The Interior CS said he was happy with the education sector especially school principals who have gone out of their way to ensure that records of all pupils are in place and engaging the multi-sectoral approach to unearth the whereabouts of the missing few.
By David Mutwiri
