Strike teachers arrested

• Learning paralysed as union declares Day One of national boycott a success

In Vihiga and Emuhaya districts, 31 teachers were arrested for demonstrating.

Area Knut chairman Evans Lukalo and executive secretary Tom Kisia were among those arrested on the Majengo-Luanda road where scores of teachers shouted in support of taxing MPs.

Hundreds of teachers boycotted teaching and barricaded the Kerugoya-Kutus road while those from Kirinyaga district blocked the Kirinyaga-Sagan highway.

Prayer meeting

In Meru, Knut branch chairman Kaburu Mugambi and treasurer Peter Meme were arrested after attending a prayer meeting at Maua stadium.

Eastern Province national executive council representative Robert Mutwiri Inoti condemned the arrest and called for immediate release of the officials.

Imenti North MP Silas Muriuki said the Government should give the teachers their dues immediately.

Barely two weeks into the term, the pupils were left to the mercy of school workers and the members of the board.

A spot check by the Nation revealed that pupils were not learning. They were playing in the school grounds during the morning hours.

Primary schools were hard hit on the first day of the national strike and parents began picking up their children as early as 10am.

At Machakos primary school, desperate school clerks did not know what to do with more than 1,000 children at her disposal.

The children left their classes at 8am for the morning assembly but there was no one to address them.

More than 3, 000 teachers from primary and secondary schools and colleges took to the streets of Kiambu town. They burnt an effigy of Education minister Sam Ongeri, accusing him of betrayal.

“We are concerned about the welfare of our students especially the final year candidates,” said Mr Collins Wanderi, who asked the Government to find a solution urgently.

Secondary schools gave mixed signals, with teachers belonging to rival trade unions creating tension in staff rooms across the country.