Tiaty constituency hit hard by shortage of teachers

Kabarnet, Wednesday July 12, 2023

KNA by Joshua Kibet

Severe shortage of teachers in primary schools has hit the Tiaty constituency in Baringo following mass transfers of teachers after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) lifted delocalization policy, allowing teachers to go to their home areas.

According to county human resource officer James Kisabei, both Tiaty West and East sub counties have a shortfall of 323 teachers with west having 187 while east has 136.

Speaking during a county national departmental heads meeting chaired by county commissioner Stephen Kutwa in his Kabarnet boardroom, Mr Kisabei also disclosed that the suspension of the delocalization programme late last year as resulted in majority schools operating without administrators, a situation that has put implementation of education programmes at jeopardy.

Apart from lifting of the policy by TSC, the human resource officer stated that majority non local teachers and administrators had requested for transfers from the region because of security threats occasioned by constant bandit attacks leaving learning institutions understaffed.

He noted that Tiaty West, with 79 primary schools require 518 teachers, while Tiaty East having 57 learning institutions needs 419 teachers to operate at optimal staffing levels.

“Currently in Tiaty West there are only 316 teachers on duty and in Tiaty East we have 285 teachers on duty with some schools having as few as two teaching staff. There is a serious shortage of manpower across all schools,” Kisabei stated.

The official informed the meeting that early this year TSC advertised for the positions of head teachers and deputies which attracted few applicants forcing the teacher’s employer to fill the huge vacancies with the existing unqualified teachers on acting capacities.

In November 2022, parliament ordered TSC to reverse the delocalization programme to allow teachers working in far places to go back to their home counties.

Parliament through a private motion noted that the policy implemented in 2018 was too punitive and has caused untold mental anguish to teachers especially those who are sick.

The meeting was informed that illiteracy levels in Tiaty, known for banditry attacks and cattle rustling activities, especially in Silale region stands at more than 90 per cent, situation members were told was attributed to outdated cultures like female genital mutilation, early marriages and cattle rustling activities.

The retrogressive practices coupled with harsh climatic conditions, the meeting heard, had frustrated education pursuits of children leading to the region lagging behind in all aspects of development.

Out of Sh800 million Equalization Fund allocated to Baringo County in 2023/2024 financial year by Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), Tiaty West and East will get a lion share of Sh 421.8 million to enable the marginalized area left behind to catch up with other developed regions of the country.

Courtesy ; K. N. A