Continued delays in payments of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations markers could in future compromise the integrity of tests based on the examiners low morale, a section of teachers from Embu County have said.
“The government cannot allocate huge amounts of money to facilitate learning the children without putting any value to the smooth management of the examinations they undertook at the end of every year,” a teacher said.
Speaking to the Education News in separate schools, teachers protested over what they termed as outright abuse of their labour rights even after sacrificing their Christmas holidays to mark the examinations.
The teachers who took part in marking the 2022 KCSE tests are demanding Ksh1 billion in arrears have demanded that the government streamlines the allocation of funds to the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) once and for all to curb such delays in the future.
After close to six months’ delay in release of the allowances, now the government has announced that the examiners will have to wait longer because the payments will depend on a yet to be secured supplementary budget tool whose approval had to go through parliamentary oversight committees.
The teachers termed the explanation by KNEC Chief Dr. David Njengere that the council was in the process discussion to ensure it secured an allocation of funds under a supplementary budget as dissatisfactory given that funds should have been secured even before the marking of the examinations took place.
Three teachers from Manyatta Constituency who requested anonymity questioned KNEC’s style of financial resources management and wondered how it could secure the services of the markers before securing their payments.
“How could an officer risk a debt of up to Ksh1 billion towards teachers unless such an officer is blatantly ignorant of the labour laws and rights of their workers for their wages?” asked a teacher who insisted that the government should lead in respecting the rights of Kenyans as an example to the private sector.
Annual budgetary estimates and allocation, the teachers said remained a professional and technical mandate and unless the team of professionals at the KNEC did not understand their work, such anomalies should never have happened.
The teachers insisted that delays in payments for Kenyans who provide their skills after sacrificing their free time should not be taken for granted unless there were ways to ensure that compensation for delayed payments through accruing of interest in the final allowances were factored.
“The problem with some senior officers working in the Civil Service was that they took issues on funds availability and payments of services provided by Kenyans for granted because aggrieved Kenyans lacked systems under which such funds should attract penalties,” said one of the examiners.
The teachers noted that just like in the private sector, where loans attracted interest and penalties, the government should start to be held responsible when it holds funds belonging to Kenyans for longer than necessary.
By Robert Nyagah
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