Public schools reopen on Monday when teachers countrywide resume work after ending their two-week strike over pay.
Teachers are expected back in class this morning amid claims that there was a split over the decision to call off the boycott that paralysed learning in public schools for 10 days.
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Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion on Sunday denied claims that teachers lost out and that the union’s National Executive Committee members were sharply divided last Friday when they met to ratify the decision on teachers’ return to work.
“Rumours that teachers lost should be disregarded as we still have a clear opportunity to gain from the ongoing process,” said Mr Sossion. He also said all the NEC officials were unanimous in endorsing the decision to call off the strike.
“As we had said before, we advise all our members to report to school (on) Monday, January 19, 2015 in the morning as we follow up on the progress of the judicial intervention being undertaken on this matter,” he said.
TERRORIST ATTACKS
However, there are doubts over whether school children in Mandera, Wajir and Garissa will find teachers in school today after Knut told its members to stay away from the three counties due to terrorist attacks that hit parts of northern Kenya last month, leading to the deaths of at least 18 teachers.
About 1,000 teachers who work in the three counties have requested to be transferred to other areas, citing insecurity, but the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has turned down their request, insisting that they must report to their respective schools in a week.
Both the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) called off their strikes last week to await arbitration by the Industrial Court in Nairobi. Today, the two unions are expected to file their memoranda with Judge Mathews Nduma Nderi, who is handling the case.
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On insecurity, Mr Sossion said TSC cannot order teachers to travel to Garissa, Wajir and Mandera without consulting the union.
BEEFED UP SECURITY
On Sunday, however, TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni said the government had beefed up security in the affected areas and the teachers should be back at work by January 26. He said TSC had consulted other government agencies to address security concerns raised by the affected teachers who had visited the TSC headquarters on January 5 and 12.
To guarantee the teachers of security, he said, police officers will be posted in learning institutions and other public institutions while patrols will be intensified.
“In view of the foregoing, all the affected teachers are required to travel to their work stations from Monday, January 19, and start performing their teaching duties by January 26 without fail,” he said. “Teachers are, therefore, advised that it will not be necessary to visit the TSC headquarters on the issues raised as they are being addressed by the National and County governments.”
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However, Mr Sossion said the security of teachers must first be assured before they can go back to work.
“They (TSC) cannot direct teachers to report to such areas unless they meet with us. TSC must agree first to a policy meeting. We raised five security concerns but TSC has not responded up to now,” he said.
Credit: Daily Nation