The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Kisumu Chapter has expressed concern over the high number of teachers who who have long endured stagnation in the same job group.
Kisumu Eecutive Secretary Zablon Awange claimed that Kisumu and Luo Nyanza have high number of stagnated teachers in defunct Job Group N dumped in D1.
The secretary demands that the historical injustice going back to as far as 2006 when they got Job Group N must be addressed satisfactorily.
Speaking in Kisumu, Awange said the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) move to sweep the promotion issue under the carpet has failed adding that they are looking keenly if the affected teachers get justice.
Further, Awange said they condemn villagers attacking teachers ostensibly for poor KCSE performance as happened at Oginga Odinga Tamu Secondary in Muhoroni.
“We demand police to arrest the idle villagers because it’s their children who did exams not teachers. TSC should also withdraw teachers in areas where parents invade schools for examination performance due to insecurity,” he said.
Awange said the issue must be probed the culprits brought to book.
At the same time he lamented that MPs are dishing out appointment letters with glee.
Awange said the constitutional mandate of the Commission must be safeguarded by the next CEO and new commissioners.
“Whereas we support the ongoing promotional interviews as in line with our grievances captured in our last year’s industrial action, we are concerned over the reduction of length of service to 6 months,” he said.
Earlier, Naivasha MP Jane Kihara had claimed that the ongoing recruitment of 20,000 teachers by the TSC is skewed to favour pro-government MPs.
According to Kihara, the exercise should be suspended and investigations instituted over alleged bias and skewed process.
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As a result of the exercise, Kihara noted that hundreds of teachers who had met the set academic standards and levels would miss out.
Speaking at Naivasha Day Secondary School after handing over a bus, Kihara noted that the education sector was headed for the dogs due to graft and lack of funding.
She said that tens of schools had missed out on the Junior Secondary School (JSS) classrooms, raising fears learners joining Grade 9 could miss out.
“The issue has further been worsened by failure by the government to release capitation funds and hence many schools cannot operate,” she said.
On his part, the School Principal Amos Gamba said that the number of students in the day school had risen from 800 to 1,500 in five years.
“We are happy that the school’s academic performance has continued to improve every year and this bus will further motivate the students,” he said.
By Fredrick Odiero
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