Accept deal or lose jobs, teachers told

  SHARE BOOKMARKPRINTEMAILRATING

Mr David Ndalo, a teacher at Classic School, a private school in Kangemi Nairobi helps Standard Eight pupils revise at the school last week. Striking public school teachers called their colleagues in private schools to join them. Photo/ANTHONY OMUYA  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, September 20  2012 at  22:30

IN SUMMARY

• Teachers were asked to accept the Sh13.4 billion pay offer and resume work or lose their jobs
• Any retired teacher below 65 years will be reabsorbed alongside those employed by the boards of governors (BoG)

The government on Thursday threatened to sack striking teachers and replace them with 100,000 fresh graduates. Read (Knut rejects Sh13.4bn payrise in three phases)

Teachers were asked to accept the Sh13.4 billion pay offer and resume work or lose their jobs.

And any retired teacher below 65 years will be reabsorbed alongside those employed by the boards of governors (BoG) or the parents’ teachers associations schools, the Cabinet resolved at a meeting chaired by President Kibaki.

“Failure to do so, the government will in their place employ the 100,000 teachers who have completed their training, any retired teacher below 65 years will be reabsorbed and the employment of BoG employed teachers by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), among other measures,” said a statement from the Presidential Press Service.

The meeting also extended the school third term to November 23 to give students time to recover lost days.

“To mitigate on the effects of the strike, the Cabinet directed that the school term be shifted by three weeks to ensure that students are not adversely affected by the work stoppage of the teachers,” said the Cabinet.

The term started on September 3 and was to run for nine weeks to November 2, when candidates would sit the final exams.

However, the ministers did not say whether the national examinations scheduled next month will be pushed back.

Education minister Mutula Kilonzo said the Kenya National Examinations Council was handling the matter.

Share This Story

  

At the same, the Cabinet resolved to harmonise the teachers’ salaries with civil servants’ by July next year

“The realignment of teachers’ salaries with the Civil Service at a cost of 13.5 billion shillings shall be done within ten months and no later than July 2013,” it noted.

Knut’s new terms

Some 8,000 teachers will be promoted from grade P2 to P1, with salaries rising from Sh13,750 to Sh19,000.

The Cabinet also directed the TSC to constitute a committee to discuss with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) new terms of service.

“On the basis of these improvements, Cabinet once again asked teachers to resume work,” the PPS brief said.

But Knut said they were studying the proposal and the strike was still on.

“This is a matter that the national executive council of Knut will have to study and explore the wide range of offers that the government has given and determine the way forward,” Knut chairman Wilson Sossion said.

Mr Sossion, however, did not state when the council will meet.

The Cabinet also offered striking university workers Sh7.8 billion to be paid out in two phases, starting January.

Higher Education minister Margaret Kamar made the announcement and asked the lecturers and non-teaching staff to return to work by Monday.  

By the time of going to Press, the lecturers and non-teaching staff unions said they were still studying the offer.

“The offer that the government has made is still a proposal and we are consulting among the union officials on the way forward,” Dr Charles Mukhwaya of the Universities Non-Teaching Staff Union (Untesu) said.

“The talks have been moving on well and we may have a deal any time from now,” Prof Sammy Kubasu of the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) said.

It was also not clear what each cadre of workers will get as ministry officials and union representatives were tabulating the figures.

“The negotiations moved very well. We finished discussing late last night and agreed that the grievances were justified. We need to sort out the back log of salaries for 2012-2012 and 2013,” Prof Kamar said.

“We cannot afford to lose another month in the university between now and 2015.We appeal to the lecturers to go back to lecture halls by Monday.”

The unions went on strike seeking more pay and allowances.

Share This Story