Parents and school board members in Wajir County have asked MPs to urgently address the education crisis in North Eastern after hundreds of non-local teachers left the region.
The parents and school board members said that schools in the region face closure after non-local teachers left and others transferred following Al-Shabaab attack in February in which three teachers were killed.
Mr. Ibrahim Kalmoi, a primary school board member in the county, said the parliamentary Commission on Education should hold a special sitting to discuss the education crisis in the county.
Mr. Kalmoi said that immediate action needs to be taken as far as the education of their children is concerned adding that their children have a right to education.
“Why is the parliamentary Commission on Education silent while all this is happening? We want them to hold a special sitting in order to address this issue that is now putting the lives of over 10,000 children at stake,” he said.
Addressing journalists in Wajir Town during a meeting of primary school board members and head teachers, Mr. Kalmoi added that the Teachers’ Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia should be put to task on the current state of education in the county.
Mr. Roble Mohamed, another board member said that the government should intervene in the matter as children’s right to education was being violated.
Mr. Mohamed said that security should protect the institutions adding that the affected schools were at risk of being closed down following the withdrawal of the teachers.
“The education crisis in the county needs to be addressed urgently. The government has turned a blind eye on this part of the country yet we are all Kenyan citizens,” he said.
The Teachers Service Commission has transferred more than 900 non-local teachers from the county following attacks by Al-Shabaab militants in the region.