Knut issues strike threat ahead of Magoha meeting

Teachers have threatened to call a strike ahead of a crucial meeting with Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha on Tuesday.

The meeting is set to discuss the implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion set the tone for the meeting with demands that Teachers Service Commission (TSC) withdraws suspension letters recently issued to 160 teachers and suspends the curriculum implementation.

STRIKE

He said, should the affected teachers fail to be reinstated, their strike will be inevitable.

Knut also wants the ministry to suspend the implementation of delocalisation exercise which has caused an uproar in the education sector with the union saying the policy was being implemented without a legal framework in place.

Mr Sossion, who spoke at Rakwaro Kamwala Primary School in Rachuonyo North, Homa Bay County, during Knut Rachuonyo branch Annual General meeting on Sunday, said teachers may go on strike if the affected teachers are not reinstated.

“If we do not succeed on Tuesday at Jogoo House, National Executive Council and the advisory council prepare yourself. We shall call all of you out for a strike. That is the only weapon left for teachers,” Mr Sossion said.

FAILED

While speaking at Fairhills Hotel, Bomet, during the branch’s AGM on Saturday, Mr Sossion and Knut Vice Chairman Wycliffe Omuchei claimed that the World Bank and Unicef were forcing the implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum yet it had failed in other countries.

Education CS has convened a meeting with Knut on Tuesday to discuss issues which have continued to elicit a storm in the sector.

But Mr Sossion said: “This process (CBC) was rejected by teachers in the United States of America, United Kingdom and other African countries including South Africa. Why is Kenyan government so keen on implementing it in the name of securing a legacy for President Uhuru Kenyatta?”

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He added: “This policy being sold by donor agencies to poor African countries will ruin President Kenyatta’s legacy and mess up the education sector in the country.”

SUSPENSION LETTERS

“We demand that the suspension letters to the 160 teachers including a number of Knut executive secretaries and branch chairmen be withdrawn. We are not going to negotiate until the demands are met, failure to which, we shall take an industrial action,” said Mr Sossion.

Mr Sossion pointed out that the curriculum should be rolled out professionally.  

The ministry of education, he said, cannot be in a hurry to implement new changes without involving everyone.

Last week, Prof Magoha said he would meet stakeholders in the education sector to find ways of making CBC a success.

The CS said that his ministry was willing to incorporate rational suggestions from different groups towards the implementation of CBC.

Mr Sossion, who has been against CBC implementation, on Sunday said that he was ready to meet Prof Magoha to discuss the new curriculum.

NOT PREPARED

The union boss however, gave conditions which he wanted the ministry to fulfil before the said meeting.    

“Most schools are not prepared for CBC because of poor infrastructure and poor training towards the same. We will not sit and watch as our employer intimidates and interdicts teachers. We will not discuss anything until all “show cause letters” are withdrawn,” Mr Sossion said.

Mr Omuchei said Knut would not accept the implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum since even the officers training teachers on it were poorly prepared.

“Matters education must always be handled carefully. You cannot force teachers to implement what is not good for the (education) sector. Teachers are not robots to be operated by remote control,” said Mr Omuchei.