By Hopkin Reporter
The celebrate Kitui teachers training collage in the recent past has been the talk of the town after allegations that is towards closure due to lack of staffs and students.
The Training collage has been under management of Mrs Catherine Irungu since early 2018, a move TSC said affected teachers who had stayed at one centre for more than nine years. Madam Irungu was principal at Alliance Girls before joining Kitui teachers training collage fraternity.
After a long investigation by the Hopkin Reporter revealed since 2018, the number of students has been decreasing from 1500 to currently less than 50 students while the depressed workers currently in the collage has revealed to Hopkin Reporter that it’s more than nine months without pay and of untold suffering calling for Kitui leaders including area Mp Dr Makali Mulu, Kitui senator Enoch Kiio, Kitui Governor Dr Julius Malombe and Ministry of Education to promptly intervene. .
According to a letter seen by Hopkin Reporter dated 22nd June 2021, Catherine Irungu wrote a letter to over twenty staff to what she termed it as INDEFINITE LEAVE WITHOUT PAY.
“I regret that this has been necessitated by prolonged lack of funding for college that supports personnel emoluments vote head. It is common knowledge that Non- Teaching staff has been rendered redundant since 15th March, 2020 when the Covid 19 pandemic caused closure of all earning institutions in the Republic of Kenya. It is still common knowledge that the Primary Teacher Training Colleges have suffered low students enrollment since May 2019,” Irungu wrote.
Hopkin Reporter has further got a letter from Ministry of Education dated 15th, July 2021 that revealed the ministry released grants as provided in the budget to Teacher Training collages and special schools at the end of financial year 2020/2021 addressing the salary concerns.
On 14th October 2021, Ministry of Education wrote a letter to Madam Irungu demanding her to submit minutes of the BOM meeting which discussed the matter on indefinite leave without pay to Twenty three Non Teaching Staff and rationale informed the decision.
“The Commission on Administative Justice (Ombudsman) received complaints from the affected staff and vide a letter REF: CAJ/PO/047/488/2021-SAK hereby attached, asked the Ministry to address the issues.
To enable the ministry provide guidance on this matter, you are hereby required toprovide the following.
1. The signed BOM minutes of the meeting that discussed the matter
2.What necessitated sending the staff on indefinate leave without pay
3. When the Board is revisiting the matter and the plan to resolve it”, the letter stated.
In early March 2022, Kitui Teachers Training College Students taken to the streets of to demonstrate what they termed as inhumane treatment by the college administration. The students are lamenting hiked fees and inadequate teaching staff and equipment despite paying requisite school fees where madam Irungu called the police to dispatch the students.
