By Steve Muthini
Teachers from Machakos county have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Machakos county gubernatorial aspirant Nzioka Waita and endorsed his bid for the seat.
Through the teachers’ unions Kenya Union of Post Primary School Education (KUPPET),Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Private Sector Heads Association (KEPSHA) , the teachers met Mr Waita and his running mate Florence Mwangangi in Machakos where they presented their proposals for the streamlining of the education sector starting with the Early Childhood Development Education.
The teachers proposed that two ECDE teachers should be hired per centre, a school feeding programme should be introduced in ECDE centres and that bursaries should be awarded to needy students in secondary and tertiary institutions.
They also proposed that parents should be relieved of the burden of paying PTA teachers and that the responsibility should be handled by the County government.
Professor David Mulwa represented the County Education Board.
Mr Waita pointed out that education standards in the county were low yet the county had good teachers who produced good results in national schools outside the county.
He added that no school from Machakos county was ranked among the top 100 schools in 2021 KCSE.
He revealed that through their MoU, they had agreed to improve the education standards in our county.
Ms Mwangangi said the County had the mandate to manage ECDE and polytechnic education.
KUPPET Machakos branch Executive Secretary Musembi Katuku, who spoke on behalf of the unions, said that they had decided that Mr Waita’s team had the best interest of the County especially in the education sector.
Mr Katuku was the education sector is very important hence if neglected, it will eventually collapse.
The teachers promised to support Nzioka Waita’s gurbernatorial campaigns to the grassroots and ensure that he wins in the August general election.
