Kuppet demand employment of 115,000 teachers for CBC to succeed

The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers has questioned the government’s preparedness to implement the Competency-Based Curriculum in schools.

Secretary-general Akelo Misori said the government is only focused on building infrastructure instead of employing teachers to address the deficit.

Addressing the 45th Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) national conference at Sheikh Zayed Children’s Welfare Centre in Mombasa yesterday, Mr Misori said 115,000 teachers must be hired for CBC to succeed.

“Preparation for the junior secondary is dominated by building infrastructure. We are looking at a shortage of teachers yet the government has introduced 100 per cent transition.”

He said the government has frozen negotiations to increase teachers’ salaries and allowances yet some public servants receive huge perks.

Mr Misori said Kuppet will revive negotiations for the 2021-25 Collective Bargaining Agreement cycle with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

“The salary review for teachers was put on hold because of Covid, but the economy has since grown and we can initiate negotiations with the employer soon,” he said.

The Kuppet chief told TSC to fund teachers’ training for professional development.

He criticised the government over what he termed militarisation of examinations, saying head teachers who manage examination centres must be respected.

“There is a case where the head teacher was ill-treated by security officers over suspicion that there was exam leakage.”

Meanwhile, Early Learning and Basic Education PS Julius Jwan said the Education ministry takes about 26 per cent of the national budget and it may be difficult to raise more funds for the docket.

Dr Jwan denied claims of militarisation of exams, saying security agents only act on cheating reports in particular centres.

Stephen Odebero, a professor of educational planning and the director of postgraduate studies at Masinde Muliro University, said more than 1.3 million children aged between 14 and 17 are not in school.

He said 712,045 of the non-schooling children are boys while 618,117 are girls.

“We cannot account for them. The number of boys is higher than that of girls. The government should invest in a survey to investigate the cause of non-schooling,” Prof Odebero said.

He suggested that the huge number of non-schooling children could be due to a lack of jobs for parents who cannot afford fees.