Classes set to resume as teachers call off strike

Robert Nyagah | Nation
Pupils of Kijiwetanga Primary School in Malindi at a function to hand over a Sh1 million CDF cheque to the school by Malindi MP Gideon Mung’aro last week.

What you need to know:

  • "We have agreed to summon the council at 10 a.m. to call off the strike,” Knut chairman Sossion

Normal learning is expected to resume in schools countrywide as the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) meets Sunday morning to officially call off its strike.

This follows a deal sealed on Friday night between the government and the teachers’ union that will see 23,000 teachers on permanent terms.

Knut chairman Wilson Sossion said during the signing of the agreement that the strike was over, but it is only the union’s executive council that is mandated to officially call off the strike.

“We have agreed to summon the council at 10 a.m. to discuss the proposals and put in place mechanisms to call of the strike,” Mr Sossion said.

“We are also going to withdraw the dispute registered, and any other pending legal action.” (READ: Deal struck to end teachers strike)

But teachers in Mombasa dismissed the government’s announcement, saying they had not received “an official” communication from their union’s national leaders.

In a telephone interview on Saturday, Knut Mombasa branch secretary Ahaya Juma Ahaya said teachers would continue with the strike tomorrow [Monday] until they received communication from the union’s headquarters.

“What the government announced last night [Friday] was their part of the bargain which was not endorsed by our union’s national officials,” he said.

He asked all members to assemble at Treasury Square until a “return-to-work formula” was communicated to them.