Nyamira County Teachers Service Commission Director Catherine Mwenda has put all abusive teachers in the county on notice warning them they risk dismissal and or face punitive legal implications.
Ms Mwenda observed that the rise of various forms of abuse to school going children in and out of schools in Nyamira County by teachers is alarming and thereby issued a tough warning to teachers that the commission and the rule of law will not fail to deal with any reported case.
“Teachers are meant to be children’s main protectors from even abusive parents and caregivers but are on the contrary doing the opposite which has made the community fear for the safety of their young, vulnerable and helpless school going children for they are likely to be abused in a place meant to be a safe haven,” she said.
The TSC director explained that the abuse can be verbal like using abusive language when referring to a particular learner or physical like corporal punishment and it can also be sexual which TSC follows to its bitter end to ensure that justice is served to the abused learner.
“TSC deals with teachers who have sexually abused learners professionally whether the court sets them free or not. We have a well-resourced investigation department and if our investigations confirm that the reported sexual abuse incident is true, then the teacher’s TSC Number is revoked if you are not employed by government and dismissed if you are a government employee,” the Director stated.
“When a sexual abuse matter has been reported in writing to our office, we start investigations immediately to contain further abuse because that particular teacher is a danger to vulnerable and helpless learners in the entire school for he could be doing it to several learners but only one was daring enough to report,” she said.
She noted that when a reported teacher has discovered he/she is under investigation over sexual abuse allegations, they try their level best to compromise the complainant to recant their complaints and distort their first statement but unfortunately this dubious scheme has failed to bail them out because the first written narration by an abused learner at the time of reporting stands as evidence.
“At the moment of first reporting the complainant is truly aggrieved and thus seeking for justice and we hold his/he first written statement to be a true record of what happened or has been happening and will not take into account a changed version of the first report because then the witness or complainant will have been coached and compromised,” said Mwendwa.
“Nyamira County TSC office is currently investigating 11 cases where teachers have been alleged to sexually abuse learners and we are professionally handling all these cases and if proved beyond any reasonable doubt to be true, then the teacher in question will be dismissed and his TSC number revoked because he has proved to be a serious threat to learners,” Mwenda noted.
She clarified that if the legal course of seeking justice for the abused learner who is also a minor in this case is also pursued, TSC does not interfere with it for they equally have powerful investigation mechanisms of bringing the culprit to book.
“However, members of the public or learners or any other person who keep whining verbally that there are teachers sexually abusing learners but never willing to commit themselves and report the same complains or observations in writing in our offices could be offence abettors.
We classify such to be malicious rumors or witch-hunt innuendos and don’t bother to even follow up. Prompt written reporting is the only way to enable the Commission undertake speedy, evidence backed investigations,” she said.
Nyamira South Sub County Children’s officer, Billy Adera observed that sexual abuse on children in the region is on the rise and the community need to be on high alert and look for mechanisms of containing such gruesome abuses.
He appealed to everyone who has the interest of the child at heart to make a step to sensitize them on how to stay safe and the importance of reporting the perpetrators for legal action to be taken against them as one way of securing themselves against sexual abuse which leaves a lasting psychological trauma to those unfortunately abused.
The county has initiated a working taskforce of officers both from the County and national government to collaborate and expedite sexual child matters with the urgency they deserve to cushion our children against any form of abuse and from further disaster due to sexual abuse