Data on alcoholic teachers in Murang'a compiled

Alcoholic teachers in Murang'a County could soon get help from their employer.

The Teachers Service Commission is collecting information on the teachers and their level of addiction in order to help them.

Many teachers in the county are alcohol addicts and fail to attend class whenever they are drunk, according to Murang’a Teachers Service Commission director Ibrahim Adan.

“This has led to very poor performance in primary and secondary schools,” he said.

The commission would collect data on the addicts through an elaborate and confidential method and help the teachers to understand and accept that they are sick, according to the commission official.

After the teachers accept their situation, their cases would be taken up by the Teachers Service Commission for referral and rehabilitation, he said.

He noted that the commission had a duty to give such teachers time to go for rehabilitation once they accept that they are sick. Some teachers go to class drunk, he added.

“Transferring or interdicting them does not solving the problem.

“Teachers, just like any other member of the society, can be addicts and we cannot throw the teachers to the dogs or interdict them,” he said.

UNDERLYING CHALLENGES

Instead, the Teachers Service Commission was looking for ways to help the teachers deal with the problems that are driving them into alcoholism, according to the official.

The commission intends to tackle alcohol addiction and take steps to increase teachers’ productivity, he said.

It is also examining the relationship between teachers’ working environment and addiction, according to Mr Adan.

In some areas, alcohol is sold near schools, while the poor remuneration of teachers was another factor that is being considered, he added.

They would also examine the psychological make up of alcoholic teachers.