Litein High School teachers demand transfer over safety fears, mistreatment
The standoff adds to growing tensions in learning institutions across the country, where teacher welfare and security have increasingly come under scrutiny following waves of student unrest.
Teachers at Litein High School in Kericho County have refused to return to class when the school reopens next week, demanding immediate transfers from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) over safety fears and alleged mistreatment following last month’s violent student unrest.
Addressing the media on Thursday, the tutors, through the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), said they will not resume duty until their security and dignity are guaranteed.
More To Read
- Parents of Litein Boys take school to court over unexplained damages fees
- TSC to send unemployed teachers overseas under new framework
- KNUT urges urgent release of funds, strengthening of school feeding programme in Garissa
- Litein Boys High School fines parents Sh69.5 million over violent September unrest damage
- TSC urged to review junior secondary teacher management amid curriculum concerns
- Teachers slam TSC for barring union activities in schools during third term
KUPPET Kericho Executive Secretary Mary Rotich urged the TSC to act swiftly and withdraw all the teachers from the institution, saying they had been unfairly blamed for the chaos that erupted after the school administration imposed heavy fines on parents to repair damages caused during the September 21 protest.
“I call upon the TSC to withdraw all teachers from Litein High so that we can go back to the drawing board. We need teachers to be respected and their dignity upheld,” Rotich said.
She added that the teachers were being unfairly portrayed as beneficiaries of the incident, an accusation she strongly refuted.
“We are being labelled as though we were waiting for this strike to get some money from parents. To correct this thinking, I call upon the TSC to recall all the teachers so that we can discuss and agree before anything else goes on,” she added.
According to KUPPET, property worth millions of shillings belonging to teachers was destroyed during the student protests, leaving them emotionally and financially distressed. Rotich revealed that the property destroyed belonged to 38 teachers and was valued at Sh4.8 million.
She further condemned remarks made by lawyer Danstan Omari, who is representing the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA), accusing him of disrespecting and demeaning teachers by suggesting he knew their salaries and the kind of property they could own.
“That is not only disrespectful to the teachers but also demeaning, not just to the teachers of Litein High School, but to teachers across this country. It is demeaning to suggest that teachers have nothing to live on,” she said.
Rotich went on to detail the extent of the destruction caused by the students during the unrest.
“Their houses were broken into by students, their property destroyed, and even their clothes were worn by the students. That was deeply disrespectful. And for the lawyer to side with the parents in demeaning the teachers, to me, as their leader, that is so, so wrong, to say the least,” she added.
Parents have moved to court challenging what they described as “unexplained levies” imposed on them by the school administration after every incident of unrest.
The school directed them to pay Sh69 million, with each student required to contribute Sh49,000, allegedly to cover the cost of repairing damages from the latest strike.
Lawyer Danstan Omari, representing the PTA, told the court that the pattern of payments was suspicious, noting that parents had been repeatedly asked to pay large sums of money following similar incidents.
“The first strike, parents paid without questioning. The second, they did the same. This is now the third time, and the pattern is suspicious,” Omari said.
The teachers’ union has maintained that until their safety is guaranteed and a fair resolution is reached, they will not return to the school.
The standoff adds to growing tensions in learning institutions across the country, where teacher welfare and security have increasingly come under scrutiny following waves of student unrest.
As the Tuesday reopening date approaches, the Teachers Service Commission is under mounting pressure to intervene and mediate between the teachers and the school’s management to ensure normal learning resumes smoothly.
Top Stories Today
