Why the government should consider paying the teachers.

The education sector is at a standstill. Students are at home and the teachers are on the government to pay them. Members of Parliament were the first group to stage their strike and of course they reaped the best from it. This strike by the Members of Parliament came only three months after getting into office. Their demands were felt to be so high and considering the wage bill of the country at the moment, it was generally felt that the demands of the MPs could not go through. However, this was not to be when the Members of Parliament awarded themselves a hefty pay that in essence went even higher than what they demanded.

Nurses also held a one day strike demanding payment of allowances that had been agreed upon last year by the government. Their concerns though were listened to and they resumed their duties on a promise of delivery of their demands.

Teachers have been apparently been holding to their demands for the last sixteen years. However, the government has been swaddling the teachers just like small babies and making them feel good through empty promises for all this time.  Though there is a divided opinion on the strike by the teachers’ bodies, KUPPET has put up a swarthy face and is proving to be beyond the ken of KNUT. The abatement of KNUT in this issue has provoked KUPPET to raise their voices and they are indeed on top of their concerns.

Teachers have been striking over abysmal conditions of work, salary harmonization among other demands which the government has been trying to solve but to no success.

The chairman of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Mr. Wilson Sossion says that teachers are not ready for empty promises anymore and would not engage in any meeting of negotiations by just any individual. He says that the government should be ready for a sensible commitment to meet their demands for improved living conditions. The chairman further says that the previous governments have failed teachers and it is time their accrued allowances set in 1997 collective bargaining agreement with the government are paid.

I support teachers for this and I believe that the government should respect what was agreed upon some 16 years ago. Teachers are not only accentuating what they deserve but also admonishing the government for what they feel has been a game to downplay them in demanding for what is legal. The best that the Kenyan government should do now is to put a serious commitment with the teachers and meet their demands.

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