Research carried out in Uasin Gishu County indicates that the number of teachers who are attending classes while drunk have increased.
Speaking to the press yesterday while at his office, governor Jackson Mandago said that most of the teachers who go to school while drunk are primary school teachers.
Mandago was answering questions over remarks that he had made at St Catherine's Kaseses Girls High School during their education day fair last Friday.
“I unveiled the report that day. The county government together with other education stakeholders met and we were very astonished when we received the statistics on the number of teachers engaging themselves in alcohol,” Mandago said.
Mandago said that the recent survey showed that most teachers were not attending classes because of the problem of addiction to alcohol.
“Most of them are very addicted and they spend alot of time in bars and being drunk hence missing classes,” said Mandago.
Mandago went ahead to show the press the statistics. The research indicated that more than 500 teachers were alcoholics while more than 100 are at the moment being rehabilitated.
“It is the abuse of alcohol which has greatly affected the performance of our students in this county. I urge the head teachers and principals to hold those accountable and to deal with absenteeism in schools. We should also be in a position to help all the affected teachers since they all need our help,” Mandago said.