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The government has been asked to fill the gap left in primary schools after more than 10,000 teachers were elevated to Junior Secondary Schools (JSS).

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Collins Oyuu made the remarks even as he called for a pay increase for JSS teachers owing to the increased workload.

He welcomed the move by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to elevate the teachers saying they have the necessary qualifications.

“Teachers in primary schools are qualified to teach JSS because out of the 14 learning areas, some of our teachers are qualified to handle at least 10,” Oyuu said in Nairobi yesterday.

He added: “TSC should now employ more teachers to fill the gap left by those who have been moved to JSS.”

The unionist said the teachers’ employer had implemented what the union had previously proposed.

Retooled

He said that initially, there were issues about employing new teachers for junior secondary school but the union had insisted that there were qualified teachers in the primary school section.

Oyuu said the TSC in 2014, stopped the promotion of teachers who had acquired higher qualifications and around 2018, there was a big number of about 30,000 teachers who had graduated but were still teaching in primary schools.

“When CBC came, primary school teachers have been re-tooled time and again so according to Knut, the best lot that was qualified to get along and teach JSS were primary school teachers with diploma and degree qualifications. Teachers have been studying and I urge them not to stop,” he said.

“Our teachers are being condemned for scoring a C plain and it is not a matter we will stop talking about. Teachers who scored C plain and went to universities after teachers’ colleges already had the experience and they also scored very good grades. The condemnation should stop. Let us talk about their current qualifications and the fact that they have worked for several years,” Oyuu said.

New CBA

Now that they are being moved to JSS, he said, the best labor practice is that when tasks are increased, the salaries must also be raised.

He said the union will not hesitate to push for better pay for those who have moved to junior secondary and will negotiate with TSC for new terms of service.

Knut has said that they are in the process of negotiating their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), noting that the employer had also presented its proposal to the National Assembly’s Committee on Education on the need for budgetary allocation for this purpose.

He urged the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) not to turn down their request for higher allocation this time round.

“Education committee called TSC following complaints from teachers’ unions because we signed a non-monetary CBA but has a window for review. Two years have passed and we will seek a review for some increment and SRC should listen to us this time. We gave the committee our stand and also TSC spoke about it, where they said they wanted Parliament to pass a budget to cover this,” he explained.