TSC decries low turn-out for teachers recruitment in Wajir
Wajir County KNUT executive secretary Noor Mohammed on August 24, 2022. He has decried low recruitment of teachers in the vast border county.
The Teachers Service Commission has decried low turn-out for tutors’ recruitment in the vast Wajir County.
Speaking to Nation.Africa in Wajir Town, the TSC county director James Ogongo said number of locals who turned up for the recruitment process was low.
This, Mr Ogongo said, was despite the commission re-advertising for the position for 325 P1 teachers to fill the vacancy left by teachers who left in 2020 due to insecurity in the region.
“The condition was that the locals and non-locals who work within the county to apply,” Mr Ogongo said.
He added that the application forms were verified and forwarded to TSC headquarters in Nairobi after the recruitment exercise and that the teachers are supposed to report to work by September 1.
He said the hiring will help reduce pressure on the teachers who were few in the county and thanked the commission for the exercise.
Among those who applied were 325 teachers for primary schools while only 39 sought secondary slots.
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Of the 325 applicants for the primary schools, only four teachers are locals from the county with 321 being non-locals.
Speaking to the Nation, Wajir County KNUT executive secretary Noor Mohammed attributed the low turn-out to lack of awareness by the locals about the importance of teaching as a profession.
He also took issue with local leaders’ failure to sponsor candidates who do well in KCSE to take teaching courses.
“I encourage the locals to take teaching courses because being a teacher is good,” Mr Mohammed said.
He complained over failure by TSC to give priority to the teachers who were on internship in the area for two to three years “and even earning small amount a salary.”
“They have not recruited even one of the 14 teachers on internship and they are earning just Sh14,000 and the cost of living is extremely high,” Mr Mohammed said.
The areas near the Somali border, Khoroof Harar, parts of Tarbaj sub-county and Diff will not receive additional teachers due to insecurity in the region.
Non-local teaches have been leaving Wajir, Mandera and Garissa counties due to frequent terror attacks targeting them.
The exodus of non-local teachers has undermined education in the vast region.
Top presidential contenders had promised to address the problems facing the education sector in Wajir if elected with Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition flagbearer Raila Odinga promising to lower entry grades to training colleges for locals.
