Post: Students sent home as teachers’ strike persists

The Nyeri main bus terminus popularly known as the 2NK bus stage was buzzing with activity for the better part of Monday morning as secondary schools started sending learners home due to the teachers' strike.From as early as 9am, students from different secondary schools could be seen in the town's popular streets making their way home after spending five days in school. The few who agreed to speak to KNA on condition of anonymity said that their principals had asked them to return home to their parents and wait for a communication on the next re-opening dates.When reached for a comment on the mass indefinite closure of schools, the Nyeri County Director of Education, County Teachers Service Commission Director and the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman declined to comment.The 2024 third term started on Monday last week and is expected to run until October 26 when the national exams will commence. The academic calendar was however disrupted last week by the industrial action called by th e Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET). The teachers are demanding full implementation of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement among a list of other demands.'If the government agrees to meet all the listed demands, we will have no reason to continue with the strike,' stated Nyeri branch KUPPET executive secretary, Francis Wanjohi.The union also wants the government to promote the 130,000 teachers who have stagnated in their current job grades within this financial year. They are also demanding the immediate confirmation of 46,000 Junior Secondary School intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms and the employment of 20,000 additional teachers to address the huge deficit in Junior Secondary Schools.The secondary school teachers also want the government and the TSC to resolve the collapse of teachers' medical cover and resolve the non-remittance of loans and National Social Security Fund deductions from teachers by TSC.On Sunday, KUPPET National Governing Council agreed to pro ceed with the strike which entered its second week on Monday(today). The Union's Secretary General Akello Misori highlighted the stagnation of teachers in the same job groups as a critical issue that must be addressed urgently by the Teachers Service Commission(TSC).He also demanded the withdrawal of the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) enforced by the TSC. Misori has also insisted that any return-to-work agreement must be grounded in a genuine commitment from TSC to address teachers' concerns.'Any meaningful move to the negotiation table must be hinged on quashing the current retarded Career Progression Guidelines. We have moved from industrial action to a struggle to liberate the teachers from the slavery. We have been pushed too much to this and we believe we have the capacity,' said Misori in a presser on Sunday in Nairobi.Source: Kenya News Agency