Potential Exam Disruption Looms Amid Teachers’ Strike Threat
Schools across the country face potential closure at the start of the third term due to a looming teachers’ strike, as two major unions have announced a one-week strike notice.
The strike, if executed, threatens to disrupt not only the reopening of schools but also the preparations for national examinations.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) have both declared that their members will not report to work when schools are scheduled to reopen in three weeks.
During a joint press conference in Nairobi on Wednesday, the unions outlined six key demands that must be addressed for teachers to return to work.
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Key Demands from Unions
The unions have outlined the following demands:
- Improved Pay and Terms for Intern Teachers: Better compensation and working conditions for intern teachers are crucial.
- Promotion of Teachers: An overdue promotion for 130,000 teachers.
- Employment of Interns: Hiring of 20,000 interns to support teaching and learning in Junior Secondary School (JSS).
- Teacher’s Medical Cover: Addressing the budget cuts impacting teachers’ medical insurance.
- Loan and NSSF Deductions: Remittance of loans and National Social Security Fund deductions.
- New CBA Negotiations: Initiating negotiations for the 2025-2030 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Implications of the Strike
If the unions proceed with the strike on Monday, August 26, it will be the first nationwide teachers’ strike in almost a decade since the month-long strike between September and October 2015.
With the third term being the shortest, lasting only nine weeks, the strike could severely impact the preparation for national examinations and assessments.
It also threatens to disrupt syllabus completion and is the third major disruption this year, following earlier school closures due to floods in April and political protests since June.
Knut Secretary General Collins Oyuu stated that the weight of the grievances and their impact on education stability necessitate the strike notice.
Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori expressed concerns about the teachers’ medical cover, which is under threat due to significant budget reductions.
Misori pointed out that the government allocated only Sh15 billion for the medical cover, despite its actual implementation cost being Sh20.9 billion, leading to the removal of essential benefits like group-life cover.
Misori also highlighted the TSC’s failure to remit loans and NSSF deductions, noting that loans owed to financial institutions have not been remitted since July.
Additionally, he criticized the delay in starting new negotiations on the 2025-2030 CBA, emphasizing the need for a structured platform to address these issues.
Call for CBA Implementation
The unions have demanded the full implementation of the 2021-2025 CBA, signed in June 2021 and amended in August 2023.
Oyuu stated that teachers were supposed to receive a second round of salary increments beginning in July under the CBA, costing an estimated Sh13.4 billion.
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He accused the commission of breaching the agreement by failing to implement this increase.
Furthermore, Oyuu protested the delay in converting JSS intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms, insisting that the conversion should have occurred in July and demanding the payment of their full salaries, which are now in arrears.
Potential Exam Disruption Looms Amid Teachers’ Strike Threat
