Primary school head teachers have distanced themselves from the September 1 nationwide strike called by the Kenya National Union of Teachers.
Last Wednesday, secondary school principals rejected the call, saying it will hamper smooth learning and national examinations. Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion has said the union will call a strike if the transfer of school heads, (delocalisation), performance appraisals and promotion of teachers are not addressed.
The Teachers Service Commission and the union are expected to meet on August 21 to discuss the issues. Should the talks fail, Sossion said the strike is inevitable.
“We have restrained ourselves for long, if they do not listen to our demands we will be left with choice but to ask members to boycott work,” Sossion said.
But teachers are unwilling to down their tools. They want dialogue between the TSC, Knut and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet).
On Sunday, Kenya Primary School Headteachers Association (Kepsha) chairperson Shem Ndolo said they will not jump onto the bandwagon without a clear explanation.
“Delocalisation and appraisals have been in place for the past two years so if Knut is basing the strike on this, are these genuine reasons? These are things that can be discussed and resolved,” he said.
Ndolo was addressing a press conference to announce the start of the 14th Kenya Primary School Heads Association Conference at Sheikh Zayed Centre in Nyali constituency.
He said striking is one way of fighting for teachers’ rights, but if the agenda is not set well Kepsha will oppose it.
“Let them dialogue first, if that fails we might rethink our position,” he said.
