The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has reaffirmed that the nationwide teachers' strike is still on, despite a court order suspending it.
The union further emphasised that any parent who decides to send their child to school is assuming full responsibility for their well-being.
The High Court on Tuesday suspended the strike the teachers' strike called by Kuppet pending the hearing and determination of a case filed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori revealed that the union has been served with the court orders obtained by the TSC and that the union's lawyers are seized with the matter and they have since moved to seek an interpretation of the said orders.
“Pending that interpretation, our message to members is that the strike is on. We will address all issues concerning the strike only through a return-to-work formula,” said Misori.
The union said that despite issuing an advisory, some parents have taken their children to school. Therefore, they assert that any parent who decides to send their child to school will be assuming full responsibility for their well-being.
“Therefore, any parent who chooses to send their child to school is assuming responsibility for whatever may happen. We are also aware that some schools are operating outside the standard timetable. While we trust that principals are handling the situation with care, parents must take responsibility as we've already offered sufficient guidance. This notice was set to lapse at midnight on the 25th and took effect on the 26th,” he said.
Further, the union called out the TSC for downgrading the profession by informalising teachers' employment.
“How can we have an autocratic commission that was created to facilitate the management of teachers, now downgrading the profession by informalizing their employment? These are the issues we will present before the court,” he said.
Mr Misori further accused the TSC of not paying attention to teachers, arguing that their actions suggest a disregard for the teaching profession. He pointed out that teachers in the country are the only group to have stuck in one job group for over 25 years, a situation he described as highly immoral and indicative of an irresponsible commission.
“The commission has failed to pay attention to the very people who are the backbone of our education system. This is not just an oversight; it’s their unwillingness to address the plight of teachers. Why else would they ignore the fact that teachers have been in one job group for over 25 years?” he said.
Misori emphasised that the TSC has failed to uphold the principles outlined in the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). One of the key elements of this CBA is that every school should have a principal.
“One of the crucial agreements was that every school must have a principal. Yet, we have over 4,000 principals currently acting in positions without formal appointments. The commission had initially estimated that they would give these individuals substantive appointments, but instead, they have left them in limbo. TSC was given the lift by us, the unions. And what did they give us in return? They are now responding to us with orders, not dialogue,” Misori said.
“They don’t even want to pay them the special duty allowance or acting allowance. It’s a blatant abuse of all the laws in the land, the morale of teachers has been utterly destroyed, if you’re now controlling teachers with orders instead of engagement, are you sure you’re dealing with people or with robots? We, as unions, are here to make our voices heard, not to preside over standoffs,” he said.
