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Schools Inspectors Ejected
- Details
- Published on Monday, 23 July 2007 00:02
The inspectors were ejected from Cardinal Otunga High School, Mosocho, Kisii District, by Catholics attending a Mass.
Father Lawrence Nyaanga, of the Nyabururu Catholic parish, and the chairman of the school's board, told the worshippers to eject the officials. They accused the ministry of failing to take action over problems facing five schools sponsored by the church over the past three years.
Hundreds of people had assembled in the school's play ground for the special Mass. The church has ordered that the schools remain closed until the head teachers are transferred, accusing them of mismanagement.
The affected schools are Cardinal Otunga Mosocho, Amasago, Sengera Girls, Otamba and Rangenyo Girls. The inspectors, led by Mr. Fred Ohiambo and Mr. Roy Okumu, were manhandled, booed and heckled as they tried to explain their mission to the hostile crowd.
However, none of the officers was injured in the confrontation.
The Mass was conducted by Fr Vincent Simba and Fr Nyaanga and was attended by all pupils and students of primary and secondary schools in the parish.
A similar Mass was conducted at the Amasago, Sengera, Otamba and Rengenye secondary schools to denounce the five head teachers.
They criticised the Provincial Director of Education, Mrs Roselyne Onyuka, and education officers from Kisii, Nyamira and Gucha districts for allegedly defending the five head teachers.
The Kisii Catholic Diocese, which sponsors more than 400 primary and 115 secondary schools, 17 polytechnics and a teacher-training college in the three districts, maintained that the schools will not be reopened until the head teachers are removed.
They criticised those trying to question the church's mandate in the running of the schools it sponsors.
The five head teachers had not reported to their respective schools for fear of being attacked.
In Nyamira, Catholic priests and worshippers held demonstrations against the Government for failing to transfer the principals of the five schools.
Unperturbed by the police presence, the demonstrators, waving green twigs and placards, met outside the Nyamira Post Office, from where they peacefully marched to Rangenyo Girls' Secondary, about four kilometres away, where their leaders conducted a Mass.
The placards, in English and Kiswahili, criticised Education Minister Kalonzo Musyoka and Mrs Onyuka.
During the Mass, Fr Francis Mose of Nyabururu Parish and Fr Stephen Orioki of Nyamira's St Joseph Catholic Church vowed they will not allow the reopening of the schools unless the Government replaces the head teachers.
Meanwhile, a row is simmering at the Eldoret Municipal Council's education department over alleged irregular transfer of head teachers.
The move has caused ripples within the department, with head teachers questioning the criteria used in the transfers and accusing an education official of being compromised on the transfer of teachers.
Some teachers said yesterday that the reshuffle was a result of a meeting between a group of head teachers and an education official.
