‘Keep off children from schools’ – Nyeri KUPPET officials tell parents

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) officials in Nyeri County have told parents not to take their children to institutions of learning when the third term commences next week.

Addressing a press conference in Nyeri on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, union officials led by branch secretary Francis Wanjohi said that it is not safe for children to report to schools since they will not be supervised by teachers, thus being exposed to insecurity.

“Let no learner report to school on Monday, August 26, as there will be no teachers to take care of them. Reporting to school will only be exposing them to insecurities as teachers are the ones who offer security in schools,” Wanjohi said.

Wanjohi said that despite having a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of the year 2021 to 2025, the government is yet to fulfill any of the agreements it had made with the teachers.

“As teachers, we say that they must honour the second phase; this is not something that is new; it was something that was discussed last year, and if it is not going to be implemented, then there will be no third term,” he said.

The officials said that they are also demanding the promotion of over 130,000 teachers who are due for promotion, but their employer, the Teachers Service Commission, is yet to effect.

“Teachers have been facing stagnation in that over 130,000 teachers have not been promoted, and we are calling the employer to ensure all the said teachers have been promoted before the schools are opened,” Wanjohi said.

The secretary said that most of the time the teachers will be on the streets protesting, adding that the majority of them are broke due to non-remittance of banks and SACCO statutory deductions.

Wanjohi said the teachers will be on the streets from next week, and they will be given a programme on the events that will take place.