Knut: World Bank behind our woes
PHOTO | GIDEON MAUNDU The chairman of the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association John Awiti (left), the Kenya National Union of Teachers chairman Wilson Sossion and Education Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi at a head teachers’ forum in Mombasa on June 18, 2013.
What you need to know:
- Union boss accuses the institution of scheming to buy more laptops at the expense of staff
A teachers’ union has accused the World Bank of putting pressure on the Treasury to buy more laptops instead of releasing funds to hire additional teachers.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) national chairman Wilson Sossion also alleged that the financial institution was rooting for the introduction of e-teaching programmes which would ensure that fewer teachers were employed.
“We would like to sound a strong warning that this is an exercise in futility. Technology can never replace teachers,” he said.
Mr Sossion said the union was reading mischief in the government’s move to introduce laptops in public schools starting from class one next year at a cost of Sh53 billion over the next three years yet it couldn’t raise Sh15 billion to employ 40,000 teachers.
The chairman dismissed the laptops project as “mischievous” saying key stakeholders in the education sector were not consulted to give their views on how it could be adopted.
Mr Sossion reiterated that members will go on strike next week should the government fail to factor in Sh47 billion for the payment of allowances in its supplementary budget.
“If the government will not include the allowances in teachers’ salaries for this month, we are going to handle the strike in a manner that it cannot imagine,” he said.
Mr Sossion said it was regrettable that the government had refused to pay teachers’ allowances for 16 years despite having legally bound itself after signing Legal Notice 534 of 1997.
“We are not ready to enter into any re-negotiation with the government over the matter and if a strike will make sense to it before taking action so be it.”
The chairman was speaking at Motigo Primary School in Bomet County during a ceremony to award schools that excelled in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations.
Mr Sossion also urged the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to “desist from poking its nose in matters relating to teachers salaries”, adding that this was the role of the Teachers Service Commission.
