Al-Shabaab Attacks Impacts Education in North Eastern Kenya

Wajir(Mogadishu24)-Over the years, Al-Shabaab militants have conducted surge of terror attacks in North Eastern Kenya, which have had negative impacts on the region, contributing to poverty, low-quality education and poor infrastructure.

The militants’ attacks targeted on learning institutions since the attack on Garissa University in 2015 which has killed 148 students, have had far-reaching consequences.

This has instilled fear on the non-local teachers disrupting the education system, causing a halt in learning and creating a scarcity of teachers in the region.

Last month, over 200 non-local teachers attached to schools in North Eastern staged a protest at the Teachers Service Commission’s headquarters and requested for transfers from the terror prone counties of Wajir, Garissa and Mandera.

However, the Teachers Services Commission denied their request for transfers due to lack of suitable replacements, and ordered teachers to resume work on 7th September failure to which actions will be taken.

“Your request for transfer out of Northeast has been acknowledged by TSC. However, due to lack of suitable replacements, your request is hereby declined. Therefore, you are ordered to report to your work station by Thursday 7th September 2023, failure to which disciplinary action should be preferred against you,” TSC wrote in the letters.

Local leaders have refuted claims made by the non-local teachers, and mobilized the locals to pursue education courses as a sole solution for the scarcity of teachers in the region.

“Mandera is not a recruitment bureau. Why did you accept to be posted here at first, knowing that there is insecurity posed by Al-Shabaab?” questioned Mohamed Adan Khalif, Mandera Governor.

Mohamed Adow, Wajir South Member of Parliament, said that this scarcity of teachers can be solved solely by recruiting our local teachers.

“The only solution to the teachers crisis in North Eastern region is and remains the training and recruitment of local teachers. We can’t expect anything good to come out of the xenophobic Teachers Service Commission,” said Mohamed Adow, Wajir South MP.

Thousands of students have joined teachers training colleges in the region to narrow the demand for teachers.

Speaking at the orientation of hundreds of students at Wajir Teachers College , Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) regional coordinator, Dr. Adan Yunis, called on the students from Northern Kenya to go for education courses, to address the shortage of teachers in the region.

“As a region, we are going through scarcity of teachers anytime non-local teachers refuse to report to work. We are the sole responsibility for this crisis because our secondary school graduates do not want to pursue education courses. To address this problem, we should go for education and be ready to be the teachers for our children who are Stranded in classes,” said Dr. Adan Yunis, SUPKEM regional coordinator.

“We now have Wajir Teachers College which has more than 300 students, and more than 500 alumnus who are already working as teachers. When we have ECDE and Primary teachers from this institution who are attached at our schools, we will not come across such shortage of teachers. We will have our somali teachers teaching ar our schools,” he added.

Mr. Abdiaziz Abdullahi, the principal of Wajir Teachers Training College has appreciated the county government for their support to the students doing different teaching courses at the college.

“We have started this college a time when there was scarcity of teachers in the region. We signed an agreement with Wajir High School which allowed us to use their classes to teach student during holidays.”

“We have students from across Wajir and Mandera. Several others have graduated and employed in schools within these counties. This has been possible because of the support we have been getting from the County governments who were settling the fees for majority of the students,” Mr. Abdiaziz Abdullahi said.

The national government and the World Bank have agreed to collaborate through the Kenya Primary Education Equity Learning Program (KPEELP).

This program is aimed to improve 35 public institutions offering primary school teachers’ training, and is intended to solve the inequality in the institutions.

The national coordinator of this project, Ms. Martha Ekirapa said that it will have a great impact on the institutions that provide basic education and in general the education sector in the country.

Ms. Ekirapa added that this plan will also strengthen the management of 542 primary schools in 10 counties.