Knut prepares to call teachers strike over promotions

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) will on Monday commence the process that will determine whether its 278,000 teachers will go on strike.

Secretary General Wilson Sossion has said that he would issue a seven-day notice after the strike has been approved by the National Executive Council.

Mr Sossion has already instructed branches countrywide to organise its members for the imminent strike.

Knut is protesting the recent move by the government to withdraw the promotion of over 53,000 teachers who had academically qualified for the upgrade.

“They had until 31st December to promote the teachers but nothing has been done yet”, said Mr Sossion “They have not replied to us on the matter yet we had clearly warned them that we would call for a strike”.

Teachers who had graduated from various institutions with certificates, diplomas, bachelor degrees, masters and PhDs had expected to be elevated to the next pay grade.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Science and Technology Prof Jacob Kaimenyi had said that the ministry had no money to promote the teachers.

Mr Sossion said the government needed to tell teachers where the money set aside for the promotions was.

“We woke up one day and learnt that the promotions had been secretly withdrawn. We want to know who authorised the withdrawals”, he said

The Secretary General said the teachers had been highly motivated to improve on their skills and had taken average loans of about Sh500,000 from co-operatives to allow them further their education. These loans had to be serviced.

He said that although employers in other professions usually aid their employees to further their studies the teachers had used their own money.

DECLINING EDUCATION STANDARDS

Mr Sossion reminded the government that teachers needed to be motivated to do their work or the education standards in the country would decline.

The secretary general has accused the government of sleeping on its job and being insensitive to the plight of its workers.

“The government has a responsibility to avert strikes, “said Sossion “The fact that workers are striking regularly speaks volumes about their abilities to govern the country.”

If the strike is called for, this will be the second time in less than a year that teachers under Knut boycott their duties.

Studies were paralysed in June last year when teachers went on strike to demand for a pay rise as was agreed upon in a 1997 agreement between the union and former President Daniel Moi. They also asked that they start receiving commuter, house and medical benefits.

The government was adamant that it did not have enough money in its budget to pay the teachers.

The strike went on for four weeks and was only called off when the union reached a pay deal with the government.

Schools countrywide are set to re-open next week.