MCAs now take up teaching roles in Mandera County

It is an extraordinary scenario in an extraordinary situation. Never before in the history of independent Kenya have teachers deserted an area en masse, citing insecurity. And never before have politicians taken to the classroom to teach.

But this is the case in Mandera County as some Members of County Assembly (MCAs) with a teaching background set aside time for classroom stints.

To sample the problem first hand, I visited Moi Girls Secondary School in Mandera town, a boarding facility of 714 girls with 25 teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission. But on this day, only five were at work.

“The absent teachers are crucial to learning here and teach almost all key subjects. Six are heads of departments and the school is paralysed without them,” says Deputy Principal Mohamed Ibrahim Hillow.

Mr Hillow says languages, sciences and humanities have been badly affected. Absent were six departmental heads, the dean of studies, the library master and the boarding mistress. “We have 190 KCSE candidates this year whose success is heavily dependent on these key teachers. We are at a loss for what do so,” rued Mr Hillow.

The school is now relying on volunteers, among them former students who are waiting for KCSE results. “We are grateful to the MCAs who have volunteered to teach” he adds.

Among the MCAs is Barre Mohamed Shabure of Kiliwehiri ward who is teaching English literature in Form Four. Said Mr Shabure, wiping away chalk dust from his hands after the lesson: “I hold a Bachelor Education degree (B.Ed) from the University of Nairobi. I taught for 16 years before I went into politics. I cannot sit and watch as candidates go without lessons.”

He also teaches at the Mandera Secondary School where he worked until 2013.

“I would like to request our teachers from other parts of the country not to abandon us because some mad people have committed atrocities. Our children are innocent. Let the teachers return as a gesture of love for children because security has been improved.

In another Form Four class, the youthful MCA for Rhamu ward Isaac Dahir Abdi was busy teaching biology. He was telling the students who were all ears and eyes as he scribbled points of his lesson on the blackboard that he loved genetics.

“Who is Gregor Mendel?” he asked the students, his boyish face smothered in a smile. Mr Abdi looked around for a raised hand and gave the students more clue. “Mendel lived between 1822 and 1884. Heard of the laws of Mendelian inheritance? Anyway, I will tell you. Mendel is the acknowledged father of the modern science of genetics. Traits in plants and animals including human beings are determined by the genes passed down from parents.”

An MCA also an authority on genes? I confronted Abdi, mesmerised. Aged only 26, he graduated from Kenyatta University hardly two years ago with a Bachelor of Education degree in Biology and Chemistry and was a Board of Governors teacher at the North Eastern Province (NEP) Girls High School in Garissa before he resigned and worked briefly with an NGO prior to dabbling with politics.

Not to be left out in the unique exercise was Leader of Majority in the County Assembly and MCA of Bula Mpya Robow Mohamed Hassan.

He was taking a Form Four class through a history lesson on factors that led to the scramble for colonies in Africa.

Said Mr Robow after the class: “The plight of these students so moved me that I offered to come and teach wherever I am free from my MCA duties. I promise to do so until the situation returns to normal and urge fellow politicians to approach the issue with humility. Anything touching on life must be handled with sobriety”.

Hillow describes the MCAs’ act as a morale booster to teachers and students.