Journal Research in Peace, Gender and Development (JRPGD) Vol. 3(6) pp. 80-89, August, 2013
Available online http://www.interesjournals.org/ JRPGD
DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.14303/jrpgd.2013.097
Copyright © 2013 International Research Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Professionals, victims or sympathizers: teachers and
violent conflict in Mt. Elgon region, Kenya
*
Judah M Ndiku, Judith Achoka and Kennedy Onkware
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, P. O Box 190, Kakamega – 50100
Abstract
Teachers are a crucial group of persons in society owing to their positions as opinion leaders and
shapers in almost all socio- economic situations. In the event of violent conflict in society their
leadership is critical in giving direction not only to the children and other school stakeholders but also
the society at large. Owing to their position in countries where violent conflicts have been experienced
teacher have found themselves at crossroads not able to behave as expected. Whereas they are
expected to behave as professionals and give guidance, in most cases they have not been spared; in
fact they are usually victims of the violence meted by the warring communities. In other circumstances
they have been accused to sympathize with militia by choice hoping to benefit or through coercion.
This study set out to investigate the position of teachers during the violent conflict in Mt. Elgon region.
From the findings it was established that though teachers were affected by the violent conflict just like
any other persons in society, they tried to uphold professionalism to a great extent. They assisted the
affected children to stabilizeand also lobbied external agencies to intervene to end the violent conflict.
It was thus concluded that teachers in Mt. Elgon region tried to uphold professionalism amid the
adversaries as they tried to discourage the violent conflict and serve all students without
discrimination. Owing to the fact that teachers behaved professionally despite the challenges of violent
conflict, it was recommended that teachers should enhance their efforts in addressing the personal,
structural and relationship issues which have potential of causing conflict and violence in society
through lobbying, advising and educating other conflict transformation agencies.
Keywords: Professional teacher, teacher, violence.
INTRODUCTION
Teachers are an important group of persons in society.
As professionals and opinion leaders they play crucial
roles in influencing change in society (Opongo, 2009).
However, in conflict situations they may not be able to
play such roles effectively owing to the volatility of the
prevailing situation. Indeed, in the course of violent
conflict, teachers are often among the population groups
most at risk.They are usually targets by conflicting groups
because of their status in society.Teachers maintain a
broader societal status particularly in the rural areas and
or because of their involvement in local and national
politics (Nicolai and Triplehorn, 2003).Their influence is
enormous because they are informed and they can be
used to sway part of the community to support or
frustrate violent conflict. For instance, the experiences of
*Corresponding Author Email: Judahndiku@gmail.com
teachers in the conflict prone areas of Cambodia,
Colombia, Sudan, and Burundi among other conflict
prone regions attest to this (ibid). In these countries
teachers were targeted due to their influence in
society.For instance, in Colombia and Sudan teachers
were threatened or killedby the warring factions (Nicolai
and Triplehorn, 2003); in Burundi 25% of all primary
school teachers were murdered and or fled abroad since
1993(Fountain 2000; Jackson, 2000); in Cambodia nearly
75% of the teachers were murdered during the era of the
Red Khmer (World Bank 2002a). According to Novelli
(2009), working and retired teachers suffer financial
extortion and blackmail from illegal armed groups
precipitating some to leave their jobs.
Despite these challenges, in emergency situations,
expectations on professional teachers among other
professionals are high. Teachers are expected to observe
professional ethics and standards along with stabilizing
affected learners owing to their roles in society. They are
Ndiku et al. 81
required to avoid unprofessional behaviour like sexually
harassing students especially girls, avoid all aspects of
school-based violence, excessive corporal punishment
and bullying (Leach et al., 2003). This gives the parents
confidence that they are entrusting their children with the
right persons. As professionals, teachers find themselves
in very challenging situations. They are in charge
ofstudent welfare and it is a responsibility to pass
knowledge, skills and attitudes to the learners through
effective teaching (Hargreaves and Lo, 2000). Amid
adversaries of the profession and other emerging
challenges like violent conflict, teachers as professionals
are supposed to uphold professional standards and
ethics, help societies to train future generations of
professionals and show guidance when challenges occur.
In times of violent conflict where teachers may be
targeted or are affected by the violent conflict as
interested parties; this study investigated whether
teachers can withstand the pressure, uphold
professionalism and assist in conflict transformation. This
was established through investigating how teachers
reacted to the violent conflict in Mt. Elgon region, Kenya.
METHODOLOGY
This study was conducted in Mt. Elgon region. This
region is located on the South Eastern slopes of Mt.
Elgon in Western region of Kenya. The region mostly
covered by the district has a population of 172,373
according to the 2009 census. It covers an area of 32,361
sq km. The main land formation slopes gently through
areas around the southern and central parts and rising
abruptly in an undulating characteristic to form cliffs
which rise up to 70 meters in height and are dissected by
deep river gorges with frequent waterfalls (Mt. Elgon
District Development Plan, 2002-2008). The region was
selected for this study because of the inter-ethnic conflict
experienced between 2006 and 2008. The study adopted
a cross-sectional research design. Cross-sectional
design was adopted in this study because it permitted the
researchers to obtain useful data in a relatively short
period of time (Mouton and Prozesky, 2010).The target
population of this study was primary and secondary
school teachers (1293), education officers (34), school
management teams of Boards of Governor chairpersons
(28), Parents’ Teachers Association chairpersons (28)
primary school committees’ chairpersons (104) and
primary and secondary school students. The targeted
persons are the main stakeholders in education in the
region and they were deemed to understand educational
operations in the district. The sample consisted of 182
teachers selected from among the primary and
secondary schools, where 117 and 65 teachers were
selected from the two categories of institutions
respectively. Eight education officers who served as Key
informants were purposively selected. There were two
focus group discussions. The groups were arranged
according to homogeneity of their roles in schools. The
Focus Group Discussion comprised of eight Boards of
Governors
Parents
Teachers
Associations
representatives purposively selected and twelve persons
from the primary school committees. Questionnaires,
interview schedules and focus group discussion
schedules were used to collect data from the
respondents.
The main tool of data collection was the Conflict
Transformation Questionnaire administered among
teachers. Items in the questionnaire were generated
guided by the research objectives. Close ended
questionnaire adopting a Likert scale model of a rating
scale was used. The scale had items ranging from
Strongly Disagree (SD), Disagree (D), Undecided (U),
Agree (A) and Strongly Agree (SA). Open spaces were
provided for the respondents to comment freely on any
other issues related to the study which were not covered
in the closed section. Such open ended responses,
enabled the respondents to express their opinions freely
in order to provide in-depth information on the subject
under investigation. An interview schedule was used to
collect data from the education officers who served as
key informants in this study. The Focus Group
Discussions sought to establish views of the respondents
in the group on the issues under investigation. The
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version
16.0 was used to aid in analyzing the coded data. Data
were
analyzed
qualitatively
and
quantitatively.
Quantitative data were elicited from the close ended
questions in the questionnaire, cross tabulations were
made, frequencies and percentages computed and
presented in figures. Qualitative data were obtained from
the open ended sections of the questionnaire and the
interviews. Such data were analyzed using thematic
approach (Gibson, 2006; Gibbs and Lewins, 2006; Braun
and Clarke, 2006).Kruskal-Wallis test was used to test
the hypothesis:There is no significant difference in the
way teachers of different levels of professional training
reacted to the violent conflict in Mt. Elgon region at the
0.05 level of significance using the SPSS programme.
FINDINGS
The aim of this study was to gauge the extent to which
teachers behaved professionally or otherwise in the face
of the violent conflict. Along with analyzing the reactions
was the testing of hypothesis: There is no significant
difference in the way teachers of different levels of
professional training reacted to the violent conflict in Mt.
Elgon region
To measure the reactions statements were given to the
teachers to respond to on Likert scale. The first statement
investigated the general reaction of teachers to the
violent conflict when it struck. Figure 1 below presents
82 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Figure 1.Teachers were scared by the Violent Conflict; Source: Computed from Field Data
the findings whether teachers were scared or not. From
the findings most of the teachers agreed and/or strongly
agreed with the statement indicating that the violent
conflict was very scaring to the teachers.These implied
that, teachers like any other persons in a conflict situation
were not spared by the violent conflict and they feared
the attacks meted by the militia.
Interviews conducted among the key informants and
the discussants in the focus group discussions did not
offer much about teachers’ reactions to the violent
conflict. However, the fact that teachers were scared was
clear in the responses of the interviewed key informants
and discussants. The respondents said that most
teachers were scared because they had to run for their
dear lives. Others were scared due to the intimidation
meted on them by the militia to the extent that some
teachers volunteered information to the militia to save
themselves from paying the ‘taxes’.
The next statement in this section enquired whether
there were teachers who supported the violent conflict.
From the findings presented in figure 2 below, there were
some teachers who supported the violence. From the
distribution of the teachers’ responses those who were in
agreement with the statement were the majority
combined with those who strongly agreed with the
statement.
On the question of teachers support to the violent
conflict, most of the key informants and discussants were
not committal whether this happened. This may have
been the reason because of the nature of the conflict. In
most times people may not want to be associated with
negative events taking place in society. However, three
informants mentioned that some teachers supported the
violent conflict by supplying food and water to the militia
but in concealed ways and operations. These findings
may not have been a surprise because some may have
supported the violent conflict with the hope of benefiting
from it. There are those who may have supported the
violent conflict to show solidarity with their clan or their
sub-ethnic group or those who may have supported the
violent conflict with the hope that their relatives would
benefit from benefits which may accrues from what they
were fighting for.
The next statement enquired whether teachers
abdicated their responsibilities by neglecting children of
perceived ‘enemies’ during the violent conflict. From the
findings presented in figure 3 below, it was found out that
most teachers did not abdicate their responsibilities in
that those who disagreed with the statement and/or
strongly disagreed with the statement. These findings
confirm the fact that most teachers continued serving the
children in school professionally despite the difficulties
they were facing.
Teachers’ reactions in relation to students according to
the key informants and the discussants in the focus group
discussions did not reveal aspects of teachers who
neglected and/or mistreated children of perceived
enemies deliberately due to the violent conflict. However,
one of the informants confessed that it is human for one
to react negatively especially if he/she witnesses losses
Ndiku et al. 83
resp. prof.
qualifications
50
p1
dip
degree
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
SD
D
U
A
SA
Some teachers supported the violent conflict
Figure 2.Some Teachers Supported the Violent Conflict; Source: Computed from Field Data
resp. prof.
qualifications
50
p1
dip
degree
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
SD
D
U
A
SA
Some teachers neglected children of
perceived enemies due to the conflict
Figure 3.Teachers Neglected Children of Perceived ‘Enemies’ Due to the Violent Conflict;
Source: Computed from Field Data
inflicted on him/her by someone whom he/she has a
chance to revenge on. This observation accounts for the
few who strongly agreed or agreed with statement.
Related to the above findings was the statement which
enquired whether teachers treated children of perceived
enemies violently in school. From the findings presented
in figure 4 below, it was found out that majority of the
teachers were professional enough in the way they
handled children in school in that those who disagreed
and /or strongly disagreed with the statement were the
84 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
resp. prof.
qualifications
50
p1
dip
degree
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
SD
D
U
A
SA
Some teachers showed open violence to
children of perceived enemies
Figure 4.Teachers Showed Open Violence to Children of Perceived ‘Enemies’; Source:
Computed from Field Data
resp. prof.
qualifications
60
p1
dip
degree
50
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
SD
D
U
A
SA
Some teachers lobbbied NGOs to intrevene
and end the violent conflict
Figure 5.Teachers Lobbied NGOs to Intervene End the Violence; Source: Computed from Field
Data
majority.
The next statement measured whether teachers
discouraged the violent conflict through lobbying NGOs to
end the violent conflict. From the responses, majority of
the teachers from among the different categories of
teacher agreed with the statement as presented in figure
5 above. However, those who strongly agreed were less
than 25% from among all the three categories of teachers
with less than 10% of the degree holders agreeing
strongly. This implied that, though teacher lobbied the
Ndiku et al. 85
resp. prof.
qualifications
60
p1
dip
degree
50
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
SD
D
U
A
SA
Some teachers advised government and
other agencies on how to end the conflict
Figure 6.Teachers advised the Government and other Agencies on How to end the
Violent Conflict; Source: Computed from Field Data
Non-Governmental Organizations working in the region to
intervene on the violent conflict, not all teachers were
involved. Lobbying can be done through organized
groups like teacher unions and associations.
The next statement enquired whether teachers advised
the government on how to end the violent conflict. As
presented in figure 6 above, teachers advised the
government and other agencies on the need to end the
violent conflict. More than 50% of the P1 teachers and
Diploma holders were in agreement with this statement.
These findings indicate that teachers were aware of their
mandate as professionals and they gave guidance to
government agencies on the best way to end the violent
conflict and stabilize the society which was suffering from
the effects of the violent conflict.
The same views were echoed by the key informants
who reported some strategies adopted by the education
office to ensure that teaching and learning continued
especially in the schools which did not close. During
meetings convened by the education office, the teachers
advised the office of the District Education Officer how it
could handle some of the situations in the affected
schools. Cases in point were the reports given by key
informants who participated in settling displaced pupils in
some schools and in centers where the Kenya Certificate
of Primary Education candidates took their exams during
the height of the violent conflict. The key informants
complimented the support given by the head teachers of
the recipient schools as an indication that teachers
wished the violent conflict ended soon the key informants
also reported that through the teacher unions, teachers
urged the government to address the root causes of the
violent conflict especially land distribution.
Related to advising government on how to end the
conflict teachers through their unions issued statements
denouncing the violent conflict. This is presented in figure
7 below. From the figure those who agreed with the
statement were the majority among all the categories of
teachers.
These findings were supported by the
interviewed key informants and the participants in the
group discussions who reported that the Mt. Elgon
District Executive Secretary of the Kenya National Union
of Teachers (KNUT) branch issued statements
encouraging the communities to end the violent conflict.
He also urged the government to intervene and end the
violent conflict. In particular the KNUT official denounced
the illegal taxation of teachers by the militia. These
findings from the teachers were confirmed by the key
informant and the participants in the group discussions.
All the key informants reported that there were
statements issued by the Mt. Elgon District Executive
branch of KNUT encouraging the communities to end the
violent conflict and asking the government to intervene
and end the violent conflict. In particular they confirmed
the fact that KNUT official denounced the illegal taxation
of teachers by the militia.
The key informants also reported strategies adopted by
the education office to ensure that teaching and learning
continued especially in the schools which did not close.
During meetings convened by the education office for
teachers, the teachers advised the office of the District
Education Officer how it could handle some of the
situations in the affected schools. This was a compliment
to the teachers as it indicated that most of them were not
86 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
resp. prof.
qualifications
60
p1
dip
degree
50
Percent
40
30
20
10
0
SD
D
U
A
SA
Teachers organized themselves through the
unions to discourage violence and conflict
Figure 7.Teachers Issued Statement to denounce the Violent Conflict; Source: Computed
from Field Data
Table 1.Kriskal-Wallis test of Teachers’ Reactions to The Violent Conflict among Teachers of
Different Levels of Training
RANKS
Qualifications
N
Mean rank
Teacher reactions to violent conflict
P1
78
83.43
Diploma
57
107.03
Degree
47
86.06
Total
182
Test Statistics ͣ ˒ᵇ
Teachers’ reactions to the violent conflict
Chi square
7.305
Df
2
Significance
0.026
a. Kruskal Wallis test
b. Group variable: professional qualifications
Source: Computed from Field Data
for the violent conflict. Cases in point were the reports
given by key informants who participated in settling
displaced pupils in some schools and in centers where
the KCPE candidates took their exams. The education
officers (key informants) complimented the support given
by the head teachers of the recipient schools as an
indication that teachers were not in support of the violent
conflict.
The teacher reactions to the violent conflict among
teachers of different levels of training were almost the
same though there were slight differences noted. To test
whether teachers of different levels of training differed
significantly in their perceptions reactions to the violent
conflict, Kriskal-Wallis test was computed as presented in
table 1 above. From the Kruskal Wallis computations
made, the P value obtained was 0.026. This value was
Ndiku et al. 87
less than the alpha at 0.05 level of significance (p-value =
0.026 < 0.05 = α). Since the P value was less than the
Alpha, null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative
adopted that there was a significant difference in the way
teachers of different levels of training reacted to the
violent conflict.
The differences noted among teachers of different
levels of training in their reactions to the violent conflict
may be attributed to several factors. First, the P1
teachers are usually posted in their zones of origin unlike
the secondary school teachers. Majority of the secondary
school teachers were the diploma and degree holders
who may have hailed from other regions and they may
not have had any reasons to have interests in the region
especially to support or fail to support the violent conflict.
As interested parties in the violent conflict, some teachers
from the region may have supported the violent conflict
with the hope to benefit.
The other reason for the significant difference may
have been related to the way teachers denounced the
violent conflict. Teachers issued statements to denounce
the violent conflict through the teacher unions. However,
there are two teachers’ unions in Kenya and officials of
one union may have issued statements to denounce the
violent conflict while officials of the other union did not
issue any statement. Indeed, as it was reported by the
key informants, the Kenya National Union of Teachers
(KNUT) executive Secretary General was instrumental in
denouncing the violent conflict compared to the officials
of the Kenya Post Primary Teachers Union (KUPPET).
KNUT has membership drawn largely from among the P1
teachers while KUPPET attracts teachers from among
secondary school teachers.
The findings that teachers were scared to give
guidance to society can be explained by the fact that
violent conflict is devastating to any victims. The effects
of violent conflict discussed in the previous section were
enormous and they scared many teachers. Teachers
were targeted by the militia and being the very first
persons to be intimidated not to raise a finger against
what the society was going through in the hands of the
militia, they were justified to be scared. Targeting the
teachers in Mt. Elgon region was reminiscent of many
conflict situations where teachers are targeted. For
instance, Novelli (2009) argues that teachers are targets
in a violent conflict situation because of their status and
influence in society as they maintain a broader societal
status particularly in the rural areas.
The results that some teachers supported the violent
conflict in Mt. Elgon region, can be understood from the
fact that people support violent conflict because of the
potential benefits which may accrue or to correct the
injustices which have been there. Both reasons may have
applied in Mt. Elgon region. Some of the teachers were
residents of the district, and they may have suffered the
perceived illegal land distribution where they were
genuine land allotees yet they could not get the title
deeds. Such persons, on the event of a violent conflict,
they can easily participate and give support to the
violence with a hope to gain. This argument is in line with
the arguments by (Keen, 1998; Brockett, 1990; Wood,
2003) that some people support a violent conflict with the
hope to benefit from it through either looting which takes
place when there is no order in society as a result of the
violent conflict and or redistribution of assets. Others may
have supported the violent conflict with the hope of
benefiting their relatives. The situation in Mt. Elgon region
was that people from some families living in Cheptais
division left for Chebyuk settlement scheme to acquire
land as it was reported during the group discussions.
Those who were left behind possessed the land which
was left by their relatives. In the event that the illegally
acquired land was to be redistributed there was
resistance. Those who had possessed the land left
behind may have supported the violence because they
had benefited from this land.
The findings that some teachers did not neglect
students of perceived enemies were a clear indication
that some teachers did not abdicate their professional
responsibilities while handling the students. Teachers
were able to offer leadership in that, despite the crisis,
majority of them conducted themselves as professionals
as required. These findings confirm the argument by
(Hangreaves and Lo, 2000) about professionalism among
teachers and modern aspects of professionalism. They
argue that professionalism among teachers carries social
and emotional as well as technical andintellectual
components to establish emotional bonds with and
among children, to lay down the building blocks of
empathy, tolerance and commitment to the public good.
With teachers having reacted in a manner to show some
professionalism, it is an indication that teachers can be
engaged in conflict transformation owing to their
professional stances and that at school level they are well
placed to participate in stabilizing the children and assist
the affected ones. As (Nicolai (2003) argues, in crisis
situations, initial lack of leadership can work against
conflict
transformation
and
other
rehabilitation
programmes, significantly affecting children’s education
opportunities especially where there are few staff with
education expertise to handle the students. Thus, from
the teacher reactions presented above it was clear that
they understood that, what they were experiencing after
the traumatic events were ‘normal’ reactions to very
‘abnormal’ situations. The teachers therefore, gave hope
that the situations can improve if they are engaged
constructively. Students and communities need this
assurance to help them understand and address their
stresses. Additionally, it is important that students be
encouraged to re-establish "normal" patterns in their lives
such as going to school, sports, and engaging in hobbies,
as the normalcy of these activities mitigates the impact of
the crisis. Such can only be realized through the
guidance of professionally stable teachers. Further, the
88 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
fact that teachers are motivated by dedication to the
profession and teaching children, success in the
classroom, professional rewards of seeing children
achieve, status in their communities, exercising a
respected profession among others (UNESCO, 2006)
could be attributed to teachers’ responses in relation to
the students.
The fact that teachers made attempts to discourage the
violent conflict by advising the government, lobbying
NGOs and issuing statements through the Union
indicated that the teachers were concerned about the
violent conflict in Mt. Elgon region and they did not wish
the situation to continue. These actions fall within the
structural domain of conflict transformation where
lobbying/ influencing the government and other agencies
to intervene in the violent conflict to address the root
causes of the violent conflict. Lobbying is one of the
major strategies in conflict transformation where
organized groups and or individuals can engage another
party or parties to intervene on behalf of the community
or sections of the community (ACTION for Conflict
Transformation, 2003). The strategies to lobby and
advice government were used effectively by teachers in
Mt. Elgon region through the teacher unions. NGOs in
conflict transformation play crucial roles of stabilizing
communities affected by conflict through humanitarian
assistance, reconstruction and other aspects of Track II
diplomacy. The advice to government where teachers
urged that the land problem and other causes of the
violent conflict be addressed indicates that teachers were
aware of the role of government in sorting out the
asymmetrieswhich caused the violent conflict in the
region. As the teachers lobbied and advised for calm in
the region, they fulfilled the thinking in the Dakar
conference on Education for All where the governments
represented pledged to mobilize commitment for
education for all and conduct educational programmes in
ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and
tolerance, to help to prevent violence and conflict
(Bensalah, 2002).
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
From the findings and discussions presented above,
teachers were scared by the violent conflict just like other
persons in society. However, as professionals, despite
the violent conflict majority of the teachers did not neglect
their students because they continued to serve them.
Further, as organized groups, through the unions;
teachers issued statements and /or lobbied the
government and NGOs to end the violent conflict. It was
also concluded that teachers in Mt. Elgon region tried to
uphold professionalism amid the adversaries as they tried
to discourage the conflict and serve all students without
discrimination.Further teachers need to be respected by
all in society if they are to handle community affairs such
as handling the concerns of the violence and conflict in
society. Teachers were intimidated during the conflict and
this made teachers to be scared, demoralized and demotivated to perform their duties. Indeed, teachers
cannot participate in changing situations in society if they
are looked down upon and harassed by sections of the
society, warring militia groups and other persons in
society. Teachers were forced to participate in the conflict
by paying taxes to support the militia this has to change if
teachers are to be given the confidence to address pubic
and societal issues.
Whereas this study was case specific; in Mt. Elgon
region, Kenya, it has far reaching implications on how to
deal with teachers as professionals who are the most
widely represented professionals in communities during
and after violence and conflict. Their role in society
cannot be underestimated owing to their role as
professionals and their responsibilities in educating the
children in society and stabilizing the affected children
during violent conflict. The fact that teachers behaved
professionally despite the challenges of violent conflict,
they need to be supported in their professional
endeavors. Teachers should also enhance their efforts in
addressing the personal, structural and relationship
issues which have potential of causing conflict and
violence in society through public education,using their
influence to lobby other agencies involved in conflict
transformation, advising and educating other conflict
transformation agencies and communities at large.
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How to cite this article: Ndiku JM, Achoka J and Onkware K (2013).
Professionals, victims or sympathizers: teachers and violent conflict in
Mt. Elgon region, Kenya. J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev. 3(6):80-89