Union officials fault cancellation of Siaya mock exams

Teachers’ union officials in Siaya County have criticised the decision by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to cancel mock examinations.

The county mock examination papers had Siaya Governor Cornell Rasanga’s face printed on the top right corner of the cover page.

As a result, the minister also interdicted the county director of education and six sub-county directors and dissolved the Siaya County Education Board in a directive on Tuesday.

On Friday, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) officials, led by executive secretary for Rachuonyo Branch and Nyanza National Executive Council member Eliud Ombori, said the move by Matiang’i was ill-intended and political.

“We have noted with concern what how the minister is running education in this country.

"We are not happy and we demand that he should stop harassing education officers in Nyanza region because if it’s a matter of examination, assessment is done in all 47 counties,” said Mr Ombori, in an interview with the Nation in Kisumu.

He added: “We are also demanding that he reinstates the hardworking officers in Siaya immediately since they are the people who are used to us and teachers in Siaya.

"We don’t know why they were interdicted and they were not involved in these issues.”

APOLOGISE

They also gave Dr Matiang’i seven days to apologise and reinstate the County Education Board members with immediate effect.

“This type of frustration has interfered with the smooth running of education and we demand the candidates continue with the assessment without frustration.”

On his part, Knut chairman in Siaya County Clement Omollo maintained that the CS should stop politicising education matters, noting that the governor had just acted on poor parents’ request to give their children an assessment before the national examinations due this month.

“As Knut we have come to conclusion that no law was broken because no money was paid or collected from the parents. Siaya is among the top performing counties in the republic in the last two years. Let the exam be completed at school level,” he said.

“We don’t want the ministry to act selectively. Sacking of the officials was unprocedural, they should have been asked to show cause why. The directors never participated in the organisation of the exams,” he added.

On Tuesday, Class Eight candidates and their teachers were shocked when they were given mock exam papers bearing the portrait of the governor.

The portraits sparked criticism on social media, with Kenyans accused the governor of campaigning for re-election using the examinations.

The Siaya County government had set aside Sh1.7 million for this year’s mock examinations at over 600 primary schools.