Teachers decry external interference in schools

Meru,

Tuesday September 12,2023,

KNA by Makaa Margaret

Primary school heads in Meru County have been urged to uphold professionalism in executing their core tasks and turn a deaf ear to any unfounded external interference.

Speaking during a delegates meeting in Meru town, Kenya Primary School Heads Association, Meru County Chapter chairman, Bernard Kiragu challenged those making public condemnation against school heads in the county to gather adequate facts for evidence before blaming management of learning institutions.

Kiragu noted that teaching was more of a calling than a mere job where one works purely in pursuit of the pay packet at the end of the month, saying teachers were entrusted with a very noble and demanding task of shaping and moulding human beings into responsible and reliable adults right from the formative years.

The chairman said teachers, especially the school heads have patiently continued to persevere working under very difficult socio-economic environments to make ends meet, ensuring learners were not denied the right to achieve academic dreams as per the school calendar.

 He said the most prudent thing for anybody to do from outside the school operations was to offer positive support to schools to uplift the morale of the larger school community in coping with day-to-day constraints working against syllabus coverage programs.

Kiragu decried a prevailing trend across the county, where some people had embarked on a very malicious trend of badmouthing school heads through the social media, without pausing to evaluate unique factors that might be affecting the management of a specific school in their areas.

The chairman, who is also a school head, said it was time external interference was minimized by the perpetrators, who he said were disguising as gatekeepers checking on the accountability and transparency in the management of resources by those entrusted with the managerial duties.

‘I am personally convinced that no primary or secondary school head escaped the laid down process of testing their competence according to the laid down professional parameters before being appointed to the top leadership position, including myself.’ Kiragu said.

Kiragu challenged those in the dirty game of condemning teachers in public to seek guidance on how and where to present grievances for proper and professional evaluation on how they were deemed to be affecting the smooth running of the school in question.

He reiterated that nobody can claim to be protecting the running of a school through social media, saying education was based on discipline, facts and professionalism and it was wrong for anybody to create a situation likely to affect the welfare of the larger school community for personal interests.

The chairman said running of a learning institution had become more demanding than running a family, saying the most talked about government capitation was more often than not being released to schools very late, compelling teachers to operate on debts they were not sure of being cleared.

 On accountability and transparency on how school heads manage the available public resources, Kiragu pointed out that there were laid down systems of the books of accounts, meant to keep the checks and balances to enhance financial prudence and efficiency.

"It is my humble appeal to those spearheading condemnation of teachers in the social media to outgrow the habit and consider the damage they were likely to cause to the personal character of the teacher among his peers and the general public.’ Kiragu said.

Courtesy; KNA