Junior Secondary School, JSS teachers in Kisumu County have threatened to move to court to compel the government to grant them full autonomy from primary schools.
The group led by Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Kisumu executive secretary Zablon Awange said that the current arrangement has exposed them to mistreatment, intimidation, and poor working conditions under primary school heads.
Awange said the integration of JSS into primary schools has fueled hostility, with some supervisors perceiving them as rivals rather than colleague.
“The toxic environment not only threatens our profession but also risks derailing CBC implementation.” He said.
The executive secretary added that JSS teachers have in the past petitioned the Government and the National Assembly to enact legislation granting JSS independent boards, administration, and governance frameworks but to no avail.
He said that such autonomy is critical to safeguarding their careers, restoring their professional dignity, and securing the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
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“The merger of pre-primary, primary, and junior secondary under one administration undermines the 2-6-3-3-3 design, which was built on the principle that each stage of learning should stand on its own,” Awange said
Among their demands, Awange said includes the ring-fencing of resources allocated to JSS, and urgent construction and equipping of specialized facilities such as laboratories and ICT hubs to improve learning outcomes.
He said the JSS Kisumu chapter calls for independence from all levels, adding that JSS teachers should be divorced from HOIs as capitation, staffing among others issues being addressed.
Awange noted that they must secure curricular autonomy in areas such as sports and drama.
He further decried the leadership sidelining, sayig that JSS teachers are qualified and fit for higher positions like chairman, vice chairman and not organizing secretary alone.
He said that the teachers are ready for strike and will not mark examinations is autonomy is not granted to them.
By Fredrick Odiero
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