Reports By Leo Odera Omolo in Kisumu City.

INFORMATION filtering in from the outlaying districts in Nyanza Province say there is big panicking among the heads teachers of the various secondary schools following unconfirmed rumors that the sleuths of the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission {KACC} have embarked on a program to carry out forensic auditing and investigations into the alleged disappearance of school property.

The investigations, according to an impeccable source would be backed dated to cover some schools where the transfer of head teachers took place between two and three years ago.

The schools and institutions listed as those which will fall under this program cover most schools where the head teachers have remained in one station of work for more than 15 years.

The KACC teams, according to unconfirmed reports have already visited some schools in greater Southern Nyanza and the exercise will also cover other districts in the region.

He move followed numerous complaints by the PTAs and BOGs in a number of schools where the transfers of the old head teachers have taken place and the new head reported to work. In some places, the new head could not even trace the where about of schools utensils for feeding students. All the utensils and even sufurias could not be traced and the new head and PTA had to go for shopping sprees to get the new materials for feeding students.

Other reports say center of attractions for looting include electronic materials such as radio and TV sets. Money raised by PTAs for the purchase of schools buses are also said to have disappeared in the thin air in some schools and so the funds availed for the equipment laboratories

This has caused blame games between the incoming head teachers, their predecessors and those assigned the responsibilities of supervising the handing over of school property by the outgoing heads to the new one, with numerous complaints that those supervising the exercise in most cases are compromised.

In some places when the new year transfer window open, some teachers who have remained in one place of work for over ten years, are said to have resisted such a move and even deployed dirty tact and tricks. Other are said to have gone one step high by allegedly using “Juju” to intimidate their successors, while other are said to have sought for the services of hired goons to intimidate their successors.

There are some cases where the transferred head teachers are said to have maneuvered their way and quickly returned to the same old station of work in unexplainable circumstances. Such incidences are said to be so common in places where the transferred head teachers were removed from schools where they have over stayed following complaints of their laxity, complacency and unproductiveness’.

In several schools, especially in greater Southern Nyanza some teacher have over stayed their mandate in one school for well over ten years, but failed to turn out even one single student for admission at any of the country public universities. In such schools, parents through their PTAs became increasingly alarmed and sought for help from the Ministry through the PDE.

But when the PDE’s and the Ministry move to have such teachers transfers to new stations, some of them vehemently resisted such a move and quickly sought for the services f local influential politicians to come to their rescue. In some cases, the head teachers resisting transfers are said to have engaged the services of powerful politicians within the locality to plead for their cases and subvert the transfer arrangement.

The alleged plan by KACC team to investigate what is happening in secondary schools has sent shivers t the spinal code of many head teachers. But in some cases, the truly hardworking teachers are said to have readily accepted the transfers, and went into some school which were previously run down and turned them around for the better to be highly vibrant institution of higher learning.

A case in point is that of the long serving Principal of Kanga High School in Rongo district in the Migr8 County Mr Kaunda Ogweno . He was moved to Sawagongo High School in Gem within Siaya County,a school with a lot of ultra modern teaching gear, but which for some years was a non-performing.

Mr Kaunda Ogweno readily and quickly accepted the challenge, and move to Sawagongo with his talents and teaching prowess, which has kept his previous Kanga school for many years as the best performing institution in the region, and there are fresh reports that Sawagongo is quickly picking up and would soon once again soon appear in the country’s map as one of the best performing schools in the region.

Those unpatriotic school heads who are known to be resisting changes and transfers should emulate Mr Ogweno’s selfish less attitudes and get down to see the work is done towards the improvement of education standard in Luo-Nyanza.

Another teacher with the dedication worth mentioning in this article is Mr Otula of Maseno High School. He was transferred from Mangu High School near Thika n Central Kenya to Maseno under very controversial circumstances. But Mr Otula, however, readily accepted the challenge, took his talent and the ability to perform with him, and Maseno is today one of the top most performing National Schools in this country.

Those resisting changes in schools are the agents of corruption and impunity and should be routed out of the management of schools. Such unpatriotic school heads are said to be engaged on my dirty tricks aimed at looting schools property and even through the inflated prices of supplies through the suppliers in order to create rooms for “Kickbacks”.

Thieving is undermining the good running four schools and the government’s effort to improve education from grass roots, and as such thieves must be weeded

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com