Court supports decision to retire teacher

A DISTRICT court has stayed a recent decision by the Teaching Service Commission to retire a teacher in the Southern Highlands against her will.
Barbara Aito Janget was one of the 92 teachers from the province recommended for retrenchment by the provincial education.
A frustrated Janget took the matter to court claiming that her retrenchment was forced and against her decision to retire early.
On Wednesday, the Ialibu District Court granted the stay order until the substantive case was heard and determined by a court of competent jurisdiction.
Circuit magistrate Vincent Eralia stated in his order that an interim restraining order sought by
Janget was granted until the matter was resolved in court.
The circuit magistrate further granted orders that she could endorse the EDB 23 form and other documents as the principal or the manager so that the teachers at Kepi Technical Vocational Education Centre in Ialibu decide that the interim orders remained in full effect and force until the substantive case was heard and determined in court.
Janget, the manager of Ialibu Kepi TVET and Community College, claimed that she was forced to resign without following the normal process of retrenchment when she still had a tenure of three years’ contract that expired in 2021.
She said a letter was written to her by Mathew Pobaya, the acting commissioner, (operations) at the TSC dated February 6 that instructed her that she had reached her compulsory retirement age and was ready for retirement.
However, she claimed that she was still an active member of the teaching service and that was further confirmed by the secretary for Education that she was still fit to continue to perform her duties as a teacher.
She said Southern Highlands education adviser Che Mepio, in a letter dated Oct 23, 2018, commended her to be retrenched, claiming that she had reached her retirement age of 60 years.