The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has called on its members to boycott this year’s marking of KCSE unless the government assures them of prompt pay and good working conditions.
The National Secretary in charge of secondary education Edward Obwocha decried the poor conditions the examiners and supervisors were working under.
“We can already foresee that the exam management process will be worse. In fact, payment will be delayed and the poor working environment is still not addressed,” he noted.
He was speaking during Siaya chapter’s KUPPET Annual General Meeting held at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (Siaya campus).
Obwocha insisted that the unfortunate situation cannot be managed through dialogue but protest, and therefore implored the teachers to completely boycott the exercise.
“We have made a resolution that this year we will boycott exam marking unless the government addresses our long suffering,” Obwocha maintained.
He revealed that the union has been having talks with exam markers to agree on the industrial action to sort out the problems at the marking centres.
“Last year there was a boycott at Mangu High School. Regrettably after we responded, there were teachers who still sneaked in …and we do not want that to happen again,” he stated.
Touching on teacher motivation, he said the government had agreed to prioritize teachers in the supplementary budget.
“The government gave us an assurance that the Ksh1.2 billion meant for teachers’ promotion is going to be factored in the supplementary budget and we will be following that up with Parliament,” said Obwocha.
Obwocha also regretted the high number of teachers committing suicide due to depression occasioned by overwhelming debts, suggesting that they should diversify their sources of income to cushion them against insolvency.
“Teachers must now diversify and have other sources of funds that will not only sustain them during protests but also service loans they had acquired from Saccos or banks. Such strains and stresses land teachers in mental health problems and the sooner they discuss the issues the better,” he remarked.
By Erick Nyayiera
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