KUPPET accuses KNUT of holding back 10,250 junior school teachers who want to switch unions

The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has accused the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) of refusing to release 10,250 teachers who want to change unions. The teachers were moved from primary schools to junior secondary sections and have formally asked to leave KNUT.

KUPPET Secretary-General Akelo Misori says KNUT has no right to keep them. “It is illegal to have a union cling to members who have expressed the intention to be in another union,” he said.

Misori argued that the issue goes beyond choice, because the teachers’ own deployment letters name them as secondary school staff. In his view, they now teach a post-primary curriculum and therefore fall under the sector KUPPET represents. He added that KUPPET’s recognition agreement covers post-primary education, while KNUT’s is limited to primary school teachers.

The dispute stems from a government drive over the past three years to move more than 20,000 primary teachers into junior school. The shift is part of the competency-based education (CBE) framework, and it was meant to fill serious staffing gaps. It has, however, left many teachers in an unclear position, with no settled answer on which union speaks for them.

Union membership is not their only worry. Protas Kanake, National Coordinator and Chair of Deployed Junior Secondary School (JSS) Teachers, says the deployment has quietly erased years of hard-earned standing. Some teachers once served as head teachers or deputies in an acting capacity. Under the current arrangement, he says, that seniority has disappeared and they are treated like new entrants.

Kanake also pointed out that no clear career path exists for junior school teachers. He wants the employer to recognise the experience they carried over from primary schools.

Transfers are another sore point. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) currently requires a teacher seeking a station swap to find a counterpart with the same subject specialisation. Kanake says that rule makes little sense under CBE, since junior school teachers handle several subjects. He argues that transfers should instead rest on broader university training. Until then, he says, many of these teachers will stay separated from their families.