Nairobi Kenya — The Kenya Nation Union of Teachers (KNUT) says tutors will not go back for third term unless the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is fully implemented.
The union's Secretary General Collins Oyuu indicated that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had not yet implemented the second phase of the signed 2021-2025 CBA.
"The KNUT will continue to secure and maintain better terms of condition of service of teachers in this country, we will not leave you behind, we organized this AGM to tell teachers where issues are," he said.
"The CBA signed 2017-2021 only catered for the teachers in the administration department like headteachers, us who are classroom teachers were not considered, we have suffered."
He said it was unfortunate that the teachers will be forced to down their tools when schools re-open in September for the third and last term of the year, to press for the implementation of the CBA.
He added said it was unfortunate that parliament had failed to listen to the pleas by teachers to avert a crisis in the education sector.
"We raised the issue with the Budget and Appropriation Committee under the chairmanship of Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro and his Education counterpart Julius Melly (Tinderet MP) to ensure the allocations for the teachers is not tampered with as that would be inviting chaos to the education sector. But it appears they did not listen" Oyuu said.
"There is no way the legally binding agreement at the Employment and Labour Relations Court can be re-negotiated."
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Oyuu urged the Salaries Remuneration Commission to consider all teachers equal regardless of their responsibilities when they carry out the job evaluation.
"What went wrong was the kind of job evaluation that was conducted and they came up with a wrong thing. They said a deputy headteacher and a headteacher should earn much more than this class teacher stating that this two do a lot of work than anyone in the school which we are saying it is not true," he said.
President Ruto has recently signed into law the Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2024 reducing government expenditure plans for the 2024-2025 Financial Year.
A total of Sh18.7 billion has been allocated for the confirmation of 46,000 intern teachers, and Sh30.7 billion for the capitation of Junior Secondary School (JSS) students including those transitioning to grade nine.
Additionally, a total of Sh23 billion has been allocated for universities for the Differentiated Unit Cost funding model, Sh31.3 billion for the Higher Education Loans Board for scholarships and loans and a further Sh17 billion to the University Funding Board for scholarships to university students.
