The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has been urged by the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) to remove instructors from schools where parents are berating students for their subpar work.
Parents, community leaders, and even students have been known to storm schools in protest of their children's subpar performance on the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam. The majority have demanded that the respective school heads be fired.
Amboko Milema, the chairman of KUPPET, denounced the incidents on Wednesday as disrespectful and stated that they had contacted TSC, the teachers' employer, to request the removal of the teachers from such centers.
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"We have asked the Teachers Service Commission to withdraw teachers from these schools. Teachers must be respected. We are adding value to the students yet they are harassing us and joining parents to chase us around. That cannot be allowed," the KUPPET chair said on Citizen TV's Day Break program.
He compared the attacks to instances of banditry that have disrupted education in different parts of northern and northeastern Kenya and accused politicians of instigating them.
"Parents are being incited by politicians like myself to harass teachers in schools because of poor performance," Milema, also the Euhaya Member of Parliament, said.
The chair of KUPPET asserts that parents should have reasonable expectations for their schools based on students' performance upon admission.
He said that learning should only occur in such institutions once talks are held between local leaders, parents, and students.
In the most recent instance, irate parents at Kakamega's St. Gabriel Isongo Secondary School stormed the building on Monday, demanding the principal be fired for allegedly not upholding the school's academic standards. Their local MP, Peter Salasya, accompanied them.
On Friday, keying residents stormed Olereko Mixed Secondary in Narok County, voicing dissatisfaction over a consistently poor performance.
After the school recorded a mean grade of 1.5 points and the top student received a D on the 2023 KCSE exam, the community demanded answers.
Parents at Moiben, Uasin Gishu County's Mafuta Secondary School, blocked the school gate the previous day in protest, demanding the principal be fired for allegedly failing his duty to the students.
The top student received a D+, followed by a D-, and the remaining applicants received an E.
