Knut to call for strike if budget fails to cover hiring of new teachers
Knut Chairman Mudzo Nzili, with secretary-general Wilson Sossion (right), addresses journalists at the union's headquarters in Nairobi on February 28, 2017. They want the government to provide money for hiring of more teachers. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Sossion questioned why the TSC had not addressed the discrepancies in the award of house allowances to teachers working in major towns.
- He said they were reading mischief in the delay by the TSC in the release of the teachers’ implementation schedule.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers will call its members to go on strike in May if the government fails to amend its budget, due next month, and factor in the employment of 5,000 more teachers.
Secretary-general Wilson Sossion on Sunday said it beats logic for the government to talk of its commitment in the education of the Kenyan child yet it is reluctant to employ enough teachers to check under staffing in public schools.
“It is sad to note that the government is set to employ at least 10,000 police recruits in the next fiscal year and a paltry 5,000 teachers. This is a clear indication that the government’s priorities are upside down so to say and we cannot let it happen,” Mr Sossion said.
Speaking at Chelemei village at the border of Chepalungu and Emurua Dikirr constituencies on Saturday, he asked Kenyans to rise up and demand the recruitment of more teachers saying the union is also demanding for the release of an implementation schedule of the CBA acceptable to the teachers.
During his Kisumu visit on Friday, Mr Sossion questioned why the TSC had not addressed the discrepancies in the award of house allowances to teachers working in major towns.
In the harmonization arrangement effected on November 2015, teachers within Kisumu, Mombasa and Nakuru municipalities would receive an average increment of Sh4,000 depending on job groups, to meet the high cost of housing in the towns.
“We have been questioning the criteria used by TSC to increase house allowances for some teachers while leaving others out. We want this addressed immediately,” he added.
And accompanied by Knut Bomet branch executive secretary Joseph Langat on Saturday, Mr Sossion said the union will not accept any further move by the government to dilly-dally with the release of the implementation schedule of the teachers’ collective recognition agreement.
He said they were reading mischief in the delay by the TSC in the release of the teachers’ implementation schedule and cautioned of the union’s dire consequences should the same be interfered with by the teachers' employer.
