BY DAILY NATION: Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion has said the union’s fresh demands must be met within two weeks, or else teachers will go on strike.
Mr Sossion listed the things the union want dropped: the delocalisation policy , the deduction from teachers’ salaries to fund new modules for the planned capacity building programme, the new curriculum (for now) and the proposal for a single uniform for all learners. It also wants the Teachers Service Commission overhauled.
“The global norm of the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, in terms of staffing, is that teachers should be deployed, as much as possible, in communities where they are linguistically connected, culturally and emotionally,” Mr Sossion said in Lodwar, Turkana County, at the weekend during the branch’s annual meeting.
“We want the Teachers Service Commission to drop delocalisation completely and we should not negotiate on that,” the nominated MP said. He said delocalisation will ruin families and should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis..
“If there are teachers who want to teach anywhere in the country because of personal interest or they just like the areas, let them apply and be transferred there because they are passionate about the decision but we cannot force a teacher from West Pokot County to teach in Trans Nzoia County in the name of national cohesion,” he said.
Mr Sossion said teachers cannot be used as guinea pigs to test the formula for national cohesion, saying politicians are responsible for separating Kenyans.
He said that it is the legal duty of the employer to pay for any capacity building programme for its employees.
“Teachers will lose Sh. 4.6 billion annually through a supposed business venture for those designing the modules. We cannot be used as a source of business. We won’t pay a single cent and we can go to court on that,” he said, adding that teachers will go on strike the moment the capacity building project is launched.
Knut wants the proposals negotiated afresh so that teachers do not pay for capacity building.
