Author: Nicholas Kigondu

The Teachers Service commission is in the process of promoting over 36,000 teachers.

The latest development follows the allocation of one billion shillings meant for the promotions in the Financial Year 2024/2025.

Speaking at a meeting with stakeholders, TSC chief executive officer Nancy Macharia said the commission has recruited 56,000 more teachers with 10,000 absorbed on permanent and pensionable terms adding that intern teachers will also be employed.

Meanwhile, TSC is proposing diploma as the minimum entry level for teachers with a C plain as a requirement for teachers training in the country.

The commission is also proposing deregistration of Kenyan teachers found guilty of immoral behaviour against their students in any part of the world.

Teachers with disciplinary cases are always taken through a process to prove their innocence.

Hundreds of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Nairobi have benefited from food aid courtesy of Qatar’s government.

The exercise, which was coordinated by the Embassy of the State of Qatar in cooperation with Qatar charity office in Nairobi, saw the beneficiaries receive food baskets which included basic food items such as rice, flour, sugar, and cooking oil.

According to ambassador of the State of Qatar to Kenya Mohammed Al-Enazi, the distribution of food baskets is part of the second phase of the food basket project, which aims to help students from poor families meet their basic food needs and support them in their educational journey.

The initiative comes within the framework of the State of Qatar’s keenness to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need around the world.

A school in West Pokot County is rekindling the dreams of girls whose future was under existential threat from retrogressive cultural rites.

Located in among the most remote parts of the county, TIPET girls’ secondary school is presenting a second chance for girls escaping female genital mutilation and child marriages.

The school has seen several young girls, who would have dropped out due to lack of school fees, seek refuge at the institution despite its infrastructural challenges.

For Effie Mugalo, the principal at AGC Tipet Girls Secondary School, theirs is a mission to give underprivileged girls from remote parts of the county as chance to pursue their dreams.

Effie says since the inception of the school a few years ago, several girls who had been forced into marriages are running into the institution that now boasts of 150 students from various regions, including Kacheliba, Kasei and Makutano. However, inadequate funding and administrative challenges are hindering the school’s ability to effectively fulfill its crucial role.

She says students face numerous obstacles, starting with the lack of birth certificates, which affects the funding allocation by the National government since the majority of the students are required to register through NEMIS.

The school has only three TSC teachers and volunteer teachers fill the gap, but financial constraints prevent the hiring of additional qualified educators.

The school now forced to use incomplete classrooms which double as makeshift dormitories at night.

Albert Loshamerr, the deputy principal, emphasizes the school’s exclusion from co-curricular activities due to logistical challenges even he lauded the community for supporting efforts by the school to scout for girls around the region to come back to school.

For those rescued from retrogressive cultural practices, their narratives as graphical as are disturbing.

For Lilian Cherop, a form one student at the school, her troubled began when her parents forced her into marrying a man from neighboring Uganda. She would find solace at the school which has now offered a respite.

Her plight mirrors that of Vivian Cheruto, another student at the school, who now want more efforts towards protecting girls from early marriages and related vices.

Members of the Women’s Development Organization in Kilifi County are calling for urgent elections to choose their new leadership.

The members say that despite the exercise being postponed for four years in the country, plans to elect new leaders have been repeatedly delayed disrupting the organization’s development agenda.

Led by their vice chairperson Fides Kilifi, the members have vowed to hold their own leadership elections without involving the national leadership.

“Women have been nominated. Women have volunteered, but development progress is not going anywhere. Therefore, we, the women of Kilifi County, have decided to speak out so that we can make decisions and fill the gaps,” said Fides.

Police in Marsabit are holding four suspects following a security operation in the area that also yielded two firearms.

The first operation, conducted by transnational Organized Crime detectives in Moyale, led to the recovery of a pistol from two robbery suspects who were intercepted within Sessi area.

Also recovered from the suspects was 83,000 shillings and 169,995 Ethiopian Birr believed to have been proceeds of crime.

The two, Dhenge Guyo Molu and Kotor Ali Jillo, and the motorcycle they were using were detained at Moyale Police Station before they were transferred to Nairobi.

Meanwhile, two other suspects involved in a botched robbery were arrested at the Hilo mining site in Moyale, and a rifle loaded with six live rounds of ammunition seized.

The two suspects, Kelisa Dulacha Guyo and Wario Ana Halake, were cornered at a shop within Hilo Gold mine after the shopkeeper made a distress call.

The two are set to be arraigned today where appropriate charges will be preferred.

A joint police operation in Baringo has resulted in the recovery of livestock stolen during a banditry attack.

The 229 animals were stolen on Thursday by suspected bandits from Barchar area within Loruk Sub-location.

Following the attack, a joint patrol team of National police service officers including from the rapid deployment unit Ng’aratuko, general duty officers from Loruk and National police reservists swiftly responded to the scene.

The team recovered the livestock before handing the same to their rightful owners

According to police, a fierce exchange of fire between the Officers and the suspects ensued during the operation, but no injury was reported on the side of officers.

A global technology firm has partnered with an eco-friendly stationery company to provide wood-free pencils to ten schools as part of ongoing efforts to conserve the environment.

The partnership will see 25,000 wood-free pencils distributed across the 10 schools across the country with 1,000 tree saplings set to be planted each year.

Speaking while launching the program dubbed “Hope for Literacy”, Zoho a global technology company, and MOMO pencils an eco-friendly stationery company located in Nairobi said the partnership was borne out of the need to foster all-round development that is responsible and sustainable.

“In continuation of this commitment to supporting progress at grassroots level, we are looking forward to working with MOMO Pencils to make a lasting and positive impact on society and the environment,” said Veerakumar Natarajan, Country Head, Zoho Kenya.

While hosting 25 students from creative minds in Athi River, who are to be introduced to various career opportunities in the STEM fields, Zoho, and MOMO pencils said the partnership is meant to support underprivileged children in the country.

“In Kenya, where millions of children face barriers to quality education due to poverty, the “Hope for Literacy” program was established to bridge the literacy gap by supporting the education of 1 million school-going children from marginalized families. We’re delighted to have Zoho join us as one of our partners in this journey of transforming Kenyan families, schools, and communities,” said Mahamud Omari, CEO, MOMO Pencils.

The idea was inspired by damning statistics indicating that 33.4% of families find it hard to afford the costs associated with schooling facing enormous challenges and limitations, many of which are caused by poverty.

The eco-friendly pencils are made from 100% recycled paper with the vision of a pencil that changes the world.