By Roy Hezron
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary General Akelo Misori has maintained that collective grievances of the union should only be addressed by the Secretary General of the union.
In a memo addressed to all union branch Executive Secretaries dated September 28, 2021, Misori warned the Executive Secretaries of the various branches to respect the laid down procedures in reporting their grievances as outlined in the union’s Recognition Agreement with Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
‘Without prejudice to the freedom of speech of all branch leaders, I call their attention to the Grievance Reporting Procedures under Articles 4, 6 and 8 of the Memorandum of [Recognition] Agreement between KUPPET and the TSC,” noted Misori in the memo.
He added that all correspondence to the general public on collective grievances not restricted to local jurisdictions must be done by the Secretary General and that the provisions are designed to promote internal coherence in the union’s operations.
His memo came days after many branch Executive Secretaries took to various teachers’ social media platforms with open letters addressed to the union’s Secretary General informing him that they had rejected the controversial Teachers Professional Development (TPD) programme that Teachers Service Commission rolled out on September 22, 2021.
‘Acting so amateurishly on an issue as important as TPD only dents your capacity to tackle grievances that are inevitable in the programme,’ Misori said.
The KUPPET boss added that he only received 10 letters from the branches between September 24 and September 27 this year.
“Worryingly, most Secretaries never even delivered their alleged letters to my office. In fact, by close of business on Friday 24th, my office had received emails from just three branches: Migori, Uasin Gishu and Isiolo. By the close of business on Monday 27th, I received letters from seven more branches: Kwale, Narok, Samburu, Meru, Tana River, Wajir and Makueni,” Misori revealed.
He urged the Executive Secretaries to learn to act professionally and expressed concern that the breach happened even after he had addressed the very issue in a memo dated June 25, 2021 on Communication with External Partners.
Misori further instructed all the Executive Secretaries to convene the Branch Governing Council within seven (7) days so as to deliberate on TPD and to promptly furnish his office with a record of the proceedings.
One of the Branch Executive Secretaries ,who was among those protesting on TPD roll out , told Education News that about 26 branches had written protest letters to the Secretary General with the same message and that copies of those letters were littered on social media platforms for teachers.
He said that the branches included Migori, Vihiga, Kisii, Taita Taveta, Kwale, Tana River, Makueni, Busia, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, Kericho, Bomet, Turkana, Samburu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo, Laikipia, Nyandarua, Isiolo and Wajir.
The Executive Secretaries expressed concern over the lack of stakeholder participation in the development of TPD, teachers inability to pay for the cost of retraining, the issue of promotion and remuneration being based on completion of TPD modules, the duration of the training, why only four institutions will carry out the retraining as well as the inability of the Union’s National Executive Board (NEB) to protect members.
“The NEB consulted widely in determining the position of KUPPET ahead of the meetings where I was accompanied by other officials. The indication by the media that there is a “rebellion” by branch officials over TPD is demonstrably incorrect,” stated Misori in the memo.
He added that contrary to the opinions expressed in some of the letters, the NEB is discharging its mandate with utmost courage and professionalism.
‘On behalf of NEB, I strongly presented our position on TPD to the employer at the aforesaid meetings and I look forward to our views being addressed before TPD is rolled out.” Misori revealed.
TCS launched TPD on September 22, 2021 in the presence of officials from Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), KUPPET and Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET).Other education stakeholders were also present at Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) Karen for the roll out.
The programme will require teachers to renew their practicing certificates every five years after completing a given number of modules. It will cost them about 180,000 for 30 years to complete all the levels and modules.
KUPPET National Chairman Omboko Milemba, who is also Emuhaya Member of Parliament, tabled a petition on behalf of Moses Mbora, Francis Yivo and Justus Nyakundi who are representatives of KUPPET Nairobi branch and other concerned teachers across the country.
Lawmakers supported the petition in which Milemba asked the house to make TSC do public participation of the TPD policy as required under Article 232(1) (d) of the Constitution.
Through the petition, Milemba asked the National Assembly to make TSC to take into account the views of teachers and other stakeholders so as to build consensus and ownership on TPD, to restrain TSC from rolling out the TPD programme until concerns raised by petitioners are resolved and to inquire into the circumstances under which TSC selected only four institutions (all in the Nairobi region), to offer the TPD Programme despite there being other reputable universities countrywide.
In addition, the petition wanted the house to recommend to the Ministry of Education to take over the implementation. It also recommended that the Ministry of Education meets the cost of the mandatory professional development programme for teachers in public institutions in line with international labour practices that obligate an employer who comes up with compulsory employee capacity-strengthening programmes to shoulder the cost of the training.
Milemba also petitioned for the establishment of a professional regulatory body for teachers, so as to avoid conflicts of interest where TSC acts as both an employer and a regulator of teachers.
Speaker Justin Muturi asked the Education Committee, chaired by Busia Woman Representative Florence Mutua, to start investigations into how TSC came up with the proposal.
