Teachers end strike after jobs pledge

The Kenya National Union of Teachers officially called off its week-long strike on Sunday.

The union further announced a return-to-work formula where no teacher would be penalised for taking part in the strike.

“We therefore advise teachers to resume duty and serve with the same valour and enthusiasm the profession is known for,” said Knut secretary general David Okuta.

He said this at the union headquarters in Nairobi after meeting the national executive council, mandated by their constitution to officially declared a strike or end it.

“We had made demands and the employer has met a large part of them,” Mr Okuta said.

The union went into an agreement with the government on Friday night that will see 23,000 teachers employed on permanent and pensionable terms. (READ: Classes set to resume as teachers call off strike)

Part of this will be the 18,060 teachers who have been teaching on contract terms since last year, and an additional 5,000 new teachers will be employed.

The contract teachers will take up permanent jobs starting next month, while the 5,000 new teachers will be employed in January.

The agreement says, the government will come up with a long-term strategy to address the shortage of teachers in the country.

It is estimated that there is a shortage of about 75,000 teachers countrywide in public primary and secondary schools.

The development of this long-term strategy, together with the employment of nursery school teachers, will be factored in 2012/13 budget.