Teachers protesting against the Teachers Service Commission’s decision to fire them were teargassed and arrested by police officers.
According to the reports released, the teachers had been allegedly tricked into signing letters of transfer. According to them, they wanted to be transferred from North Eastern due to the insecurity levels of the region.
After signing the letters, they were guaranteed that they would be receiving transfer letters soon after. The teachers, however, were served with interdiction letters, terminating their employment.
These letters infuriated the teachers who had been dismissed and caused them to march to Upperhill in protest of the decision made.
This, however, led to one of them being injured during a confrontation with the police. The teacher was rushed to hospital for treatment while the other 10 were arrested by the police during the protest.
“You cannot come here to paralyse services. We will deal with you today, “one of the police officers was caught on camera telling the teachers.
When the police officers intervened, prior to the teargas, the teachers stated that they would not budge until they were heard. They even dared the police to use teargas on them, they would still not move.
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Teachers in North Eastern Region
Aside from the teachers protesting, over 129 teachers refused to report to their workstations in North Eastern Kenya. They demanded that they would only show up if there was improved security in North Eastern or if they got transfers to safer regions.
“You cannot teach when your life is under threat. You cannot attend to a child when there is somebody threatening your life,” the Tinderet Member of Parliament stated.
The TSC consequently served 60 of the 129 teachers with interdiction letters. They claimed that this was a disciplinary action since the teachers were allegedly paralysing education in the North Eastern region.
The National Assembly Education Committee’s Chairperson Julius Melly asked the TSC to reinstate the interdicted teachers. They are however yet to do this.
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