600 SACKED OVER SEX

Six hundred teachers have been sacked in the past five years countrywide in connection with sexual relationships with school girls.

The pests were sent packing after it was established that they had sexual relationships with their female pupils and students.

According to the chairman of the Teachers’ Service Commission, Mr Ibrahim Hussein, the teachers committed a serious crime and they had to be relieved of their duties.

“After investigations, the teachers were found to have sexually abused the girls and immediately dismissed from their jobs,” he said Saturday while presiding over a prize-giving ceremony for students at Kianyaga Boys’High school in Kirinyaga East district.

Accompanied by the Gichugu Member of Parliament, Ms Martha Karua, the chairman warned that the TSC would continue taking tough disciplinary action against amorous teachers.

“We shall not spare any teachers found involved in sexual abuse of the young ones,” he said.

He noted that girls were already disadvantaged and the TSC would not spare anyone adding more hardships to their lives.

The chairman said it was sad that the teachers were turning against the young girls they had been entrusted by parents and guardians to take care of, instead of helping them to build their careers and become responsible citizens in the future.

He said the TSC was working together with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) to instill discipline in teachers whose behaviour was questionable.

Mr Hussein, however, played down the number of those implicated in the immoral acts, saying it was not alarming.

“The number of teachers messing up with the girls is not big at all. The majority of teachers behave well and work hard to improve education standards,” he said.

Mr Hussein said the country was experiencing an acute shortage of teachers. He disclosed that schools were understaffed by 66,000 teachers and the TSC was addressing the crisis.

The chairman said that although the TSC could not employ all the teachers at once, measures were being taken to address the problem.