Pay teachers their allowances, Wundanyi MP

Voi,

Tuesday January 16, 2024,

KNA by Peter Luganje

Despite the National Assembly recommending hardship allowances to teachers in Taita Taveta County, teachers in some parts of the county do not receive it.

According to Wundanyi Member of Parliament (MP), Danson Mwashako, most teachers are yet to receive their hardship allowances, despite the area being classified as a hardship area.

The MP asked Education Cabinet Secretary (CS), Ezekiel Machogu and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), to fast track the process and ensure that the affected teachers have been factored in, to receive their hardship allowances.

 “On matters of hardship allowances, it's unfortunate that it's still pending in most parts of the County despite parliament recommending it. Teachers have continued suffering for lack of allowances. I urge the TSC and the CS for education to consider this, so that our teachers can get what they deserve,” said the MP.

 “Some schools have been closed down due to attacks from elephants, others have been affected by prolonged drought, with seven years of no rain. Most schools have no telephone network connection as well as housing for teachers. Teachers live, at about six (6) kilometres in rental houses, away from schools and still the government fails to consider them for hardship allowance especially in Wundanyi,” he added.

Mwashako who was speaking during prize giving day for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) for the best performing schools in Wundanyi Constituency, reiterated that failure by TSC and the Government to pay the allowance has resulted to teachers seeking transfers to other schools, leading to teacher deficiency, which is hard to fill despite the matter being brought to light by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Taita Taveta Branch in previous years.

 “We will keep on pushing till the day Wundanyi and other Sub-counties in Taita Taveta County are included in the hardship allowance, so that our teachers can have some relief,” he added.

The Legislator disclosed that most teachers in Taita Taveta County are employed by the Board of Management (BoM) and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), making schools’ operations very expensive. 

The County Director of Education, Khalif Hirey, acknowledged that there is shortage of teachers in schools across the County, urging teachers and parents to seek a way forward on how their children will learn well with adequate teachers and adequate resources for them to achieve their targets.

 “We have a shortage of teachers. A good number of schools have shortfalls and therefore the BoMs and PTAs need to sit and find a solution, to ensure students are taught by adequate teachers in adequate facilities,” said Hirey.

However, despite the challenges facing the public educational institutions in the County, many schools performed well in last year’s KCPE and KCSE.

 Having recorded a total of 7,163 students who sat for the KCSE exams in 2023 in the County, 1,251 students got direct university entries, with only six (6) students failing to take the exams.

Out of the total 1,251 students who scored C+ grade and above, Mwatate Sub- county had 614, Taita 428, Voi 137, and Taveta 72 students who will join various universities for different courses later this year.

 According to the Director, the majority of the students will join colleges for diploma and certificate courses.

 “The results were good. In fact, we have less than 10 ‘Es’ in the whole County which we are very happy about,” said Hirey, adding that as a County, they are targeting to get more than 2,000 students joining the university in the subsequent years.

Courtesy; KNA