Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association has accused a local education officer for summoning them over continued absence of children from schools in Gesima Zone.
Led by Gesima Zone chairman Charles Bosire, the head teachers denied reports that they had instructed children to stay away from school in compliance with the directive from the teacher’s union, KNUT.
They accused area education officer Robert Obiria for falsely accusing them in a meeting that was held on Monday at the County Education offices in Nyamira, and blamed parents on the ongoing stalemate.
“We are administrators and we understand our obligation very well. The education officer must understand that we cannot drag children to school. We have always been attending school but surprisingly, no pupil has turned up since they heard of the strike,” Bosire said.
They urged the education officer to do a case study before blaming them on the current limbo and challenged parents to send their children to school.
“The schools are open but children aren’t coming. We have nothing more to do and the education officer should collect enough intelligence before engaging in blame games. Parents should also be taken to account because they know that schools aren’t closed,” he added.
However, Obiria, who was in attendance at the funeral ceremony said he had been quoted out of context, but insisted school heads had an obligation to act on children who were taking advantage of the ongoing strike.
“I didn’t really say that head teachers are not going to their respective schools. What I actually meant is that they should take an action against children who are taking advantage of the stalemate to miss school,” he said.