NAIROBI – A Kenyan high school teacher’s desperate bid to return to the classroom has flopped after a court upheld his dismissal over allegations of inappropriate online conversations with a teenage student. The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi delivered the verdict with all the finality of a school bell at 4 p.m., slamming the door on the teacher’s request for reinstatement.
The drama began when the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) sent the teacher packing after it emerged that he had been cozying up to a 17-year-old student on Instagram—allegedly using a fake account. Apparently, April 2023 was not just a month of school holidays but also a season of regrettable social media activity. Reports indicated that the teacher slid into the student’s DMs with inappropriate messages, crossing professional lines like a student sneaking into the staffroom to steal exam papers.
But it didn’t stop there. The accusations also included an alleged incident of misconduct inside the school’s computer lab—turning a place meant for IT lessons into a scene straight out of a disciplinary committee’s worst nightmare.
The student eventually informed her guardian, who wasted no time in reporting the matter. TSC launched an investigation and concluded that the teacher had not only crossed ethical boundaries but had also shattered the fragile trust between educators and learners. The commission ruled that reinstating him would be like handing a lit match to a pyromaniac and hoping for the best.
However, the teacher insisted it was all a big misunderstanding. He claimed that the allegations were cooked up, that the student had been coerced into making statements against him, and that a letter from her and her father withdrawing the complaint had been ignored. He also accused the school board of neglecting to review CCTV footage that, in his view, would have cleared his name faster than a school closing day announcement clears a classroom.
Adding to the theatrics, he argued that the disciplinary process was unfair, claiming he wasn’t given enough time to prepare his defense. The loss of his job, coupled with stress-related health issues, landed him in the hospital. But even as he was dealing with medical concerns, TSC sent him a letter on July 12, 2023, inviting him to a disciplinary hearing—an invitation as unwelcome as a surprise math test.
The court, however, wasn’t buying his excuses. Justice Onyango ruled that the teacher failed to provide a legitimate reason for missing the hearing, despite having ample opportunity to do so. The judge also pointed out that TSC had thoroughly investigated the case, and in the absence of any solid counter-evidence, the teacher’s misconduct verdict stood firm.
In the end, the ruling was crystal clear: the teacher had been fairly dismissed, and his request for reinstatement was as unlikely as a student voluntarily handing in unassigned homework.
A Cautionary Lesson for Teachers
This case serves as a stark warning to educators everywhere: professional boundaries with students are not optional—they are non-negotiable. Social media is not a playground for casual conversations with learners, and any form of inappropriate engagement, whether online or in person, can and will cost a teacher their career. The profession demands integrity, discipline, and mentorship—not digital misadventures that lead straight to courtroom drama. If you wouldn’t say it in a packed classroom with the principal standing behind you, then it probably doesn’t belong in a private chat with a student.
Lesson learned: If you’re an educator, stick to teaching algebra and other topics—not testing your social media flirting skills.