24/10/2025
From Maternity Bed to Disciplinary Board: Teacher Battles Systemic Abuse in Education Sector
When Kefrine Kef Keffy (Nzaywa) [name per her facebook handle], a dedicated Phisics-Chemistry teacher and mother of twins, discovered she was expecting, her life took a painful turn she never anticipated. What began as a high-risk pregnancy that required bed rest soon spiraled into years of workplace victimization, false accusations, and emotional torment, all at the hands of those entrusted with leadership in the education system.
The Beginning of Trouble
Upon her doctor’s advice, Kefrine was placed on mandatory bed rest to protect her unborn twins. But instead of empathy, her employer, the school principal, began visiting the Teachers Service Commission (TSC KENYA) sub-county office to complain that Kefrine was “earning without working.”
Even after she safely delivered her premature twins, the hostility intensified. Her maternity leave was abruptly cut short, forcing her back to work before recovery. “She would walk into my class before time and sit silently at the back, just to humiliate me,” Kefrine recalls.
Denied breastfeeding breaks and accused of being paid for months she didn’t work, Kefrine endured silent suffering as her mental and physical health deteriorated.
Transfer Blocked and Reputation Tarnished
Seeking peace, Kefrine applied for a transfer to Ituru High School, located near her home. But before she could settle, her principal allegedly contacted the new school to warn them against accepting her.
Even after intervention helped her secure the transfer, the damage was done. During her first staff meeting, she discovered that she had already been discussed as “lazy and unwilling to work.”
“The new principal told me he would never release me to any other school unpunished,” she says.
Determined to prove herself, she immersed fully in teaching, volunteering on weekends, mentoring students, and achieving stellar KCSE results in Chemistry. But instead of recognition, she faced sabotage.
“The lab assistant was ordered not to prepare practicals for my students. When I was supposed to set exams, another teacher would set a different paper for their class,” she recalls.
The Setup: How a Strike Was Turned Against Her
In her third year, a nationwide wave of student strikes reached her school. After the deputy principal’s transfer, tension grew among students who adored him. When unrest eventually broke out, causing property damage estimated at KSh 1 million, Kefrine became the unexpected scapegoat.
A student texted her privately to warn that staff were planning to frame her as the instigator, claiming she called the boys “girls” for not striking like others.
When students returned, they were issued questionnaires asking who made the remark. Some wrote the principal’s name, others the boarding master’s, but only those who “heard it was Kefrine” were retained. The rest, she says, “were quietly removed.”
Soon after, she was summoned by the police, harassed, and presented with a fake charge sheet, allegedly facilitated by the principal’s brother, a DCI officer. Police investigations later found inconsistencies and signs of student coaching, dismissing the case.
But at school, the ordeal was far from over.
Trial by Intimidation
The principal took the same discredited documents to the Board of Management (BOM), which summoned Kefrine to appear before them. She was given three impossible choices:
1. Admit guilt and be forgiven.
2. Admit guilt and be warned.
3. Deny guilt and face interdiction.
“I chose the third. I denied because I was innocent,” she says firmly.
Days later, she received her interdiction letter. Her salary was cut immediately, and she was required to report monthly to the TSC sub-county office.
When her case reached the Kiambu County disciplinary panel, she faced nine witnesses, the principal, BOM chair, boarding master, a female colleague, and five students.
The odds seemed stacked against her. Yet, in a moment that restored her faith in truth, the five students; Patrick, Telvin, Eliud, Elijah, and Oren, refused to lie.
“They were pressured to change their statements, but they stood by the truth,” she recounts with emotion.
The panel cleared her, but instead of reinstatement, she was slapped with a four-month suspension, her file allegedly tampered with before submission to TSC headquarters.
New Schools, Same Frustrations
After serving her suspension, Kefrine was transferred to Juja Secondary School. The acting principal initially refused to admit her, calling a BOM meeting to deliberate her fate. Even after reluctantly accepting her, he allegedly refused to file her casualty return for over a month, delaying her salary.
She later sought intervention at the TSC headquarters and was transferred to Thika Girls, hoping for a fresh start. But the cycle of hostility followed.
“The new principal began criticizing my appearance, my eyes, my walk, and even my love for reggae music. She said it was unprofessional,” Kefrine recalls.
The Price of Integrity
Through all the pain and isolation, Kefrine says reggae music became her refuge, a symbol of peace, resilience, and resistance against oppression.
“Reggae kept me alive,” she says. “It reminded me that truth is still worth standing for, even when you’re standing alone.”
Despite everything, she remains committed to her calling as an educator, and to speaking out against what she describes as a deep culture of victimization within Kiambu’s education system.
Conclusion
Kefrine’s story raises serious questions about teacher protection, disciplinary procedures, and the misuse of administrative power in Kenyan schools. Her experience, marked by false accusations, procedural abuse, and systemic neglect, exposes the urgent need for reform within the Teachers Service Commission and the of Education.
As she puts it:
“I may have lost my peace for a while, but I never lost my integrity. My students knew the truth, and that is my victory.”
