By Roy Hezron
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Bomet Branch Executive Secretary Malel Lang’at who is also a member of National Executive Committee (NEC) representing Rift Valley Region has rejected the recently launched mandatory refresher courses for teachers terming them a burden to teachers.
Malel, who becomes the only Union branch official and also a member of the National Steering to openly give his stand on the matter told Education News on phone most recently that teachers from Bomet County have strongly opposed the newly introduced guidelines from their employer terming the move as punitive.
Malel stated that teachers in Bomet are wondering why the government is not bearing full cost of retraining teachers as compared to other civil servants in the Public Service Commission.
“This is a process which should be made optional, it is wrong to force teachers to go back to school yet they are the ones paying for it, focus should be on the young and newly recruited ones,” he stated.
He said the move is ill-informed, unrealistic and unconstitutional, arguing that as a union, they were not consulted and public participation was not conducted as envisaged in the Constitution.
“We demand further consultations on this matter with all stakeholders before it is implemented, in fact, we read mischief on the motive behind it, this is not an emergency,” said Malel.
He warned that the process might fail pointing out that it should be voluntary and not compulsory since there are teachers who are approaching their retirement ages.
“We shall not participate in the process if we are being told to gather for the costs of the training, Public Service Commission pays for its employees but we wonder why TSC is subjecting our teachers to such unnecessary sufferings,” noted Malel.
Malel becomes the only KNUT official who has given his views on the matter joining other 26 Kenya National Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Branch Executive Secretaries who have since rejected the TPD.
TSC’s new program states that every teacher should be paying Sh6, 000 each year for a period of five years to complete the course.
It will take a teacher a total of Sh186, 000 to complete all the required training modules including the introductory modules for a period of 31 years.
Teachers will be required to renew their practicing license after every five years.
