Kenya National Union of Teachers secretary-general David Okuta Osiany (right) and national chairman Wilson Sossion. Photo/FILE
By NATION CORRESPONDENT
Posted Sunday, April 8 2012 at 22:30
Posted Sunday, April 8 2012 at 22:30
A teachers’ union wants school heads to be paid a total of Sh3 billion in responsibility allowances.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) said this would motivate headteachers to work harder.
Knut national chairman Wilson Sossion said education officials had on several occasions promised to introduce the allowances.
“The allowances have been promised many times but the pledges have not been fulfilled. Headteachers are tired of waiting,” he told mourners at a funeral service for Administration Police officer Murimi Mureithi in Kirinyaga County at the weekend.
A raw deal
Mr Mureithi, 28, the son of local Knut executive secretary Harrison Gichira, died in a car accident.
Mr Sossion said headteachers’ morale was low because the government was giving them a raw deal.
He said Knut would fight for the allowances until the government paid up.
Mr Sossion also demanded that teachers’ salaries be increased by 300 per cent.
Saying there was enough money to pay the 268,000 teachers, Mr Sossion warned that if salaries were not increased, the union would call for a strike on June 1.
“The Knut national executive council will meet next week to discuss the issue,” he said.
He stressed the need to employ nursery school teachers to improve early child development education.
Mr Sossion accused the government of neglecting nursery school education.
“We are now saying that nursery school teachers are important and more of them should be employed,” he said.
He criticised a government decision to employ 10,000 teachers annually, saying this would not address the acute shortage of staff.
He said the plan was unacceptable as the government was going against an agreement reached between the Teachers Service Commission and the union.
“We agreed that 20,000 teachers will be employed annually but we are surprised that the Teachers Service Commission is reneging on the agreement,” he said.
Mr Sossion said Knut was opposed to the date set by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for the next General Election.
He said elections should be held in December this year and not March, 4, 2013 to avoid disrupting the school calendar.
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