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| Teachers on strike |
More than 1200 intern Junior Secondary School teachers from Kilifi County have rejected calls to end their strike claiming their representatives were compromised.
Speaking In Malindi they said they would only end the strike when the national government meets all their demands including the employment of 46,000 teachers and not the internship
Azani Ngumbao the Secretary General of the Kilifi County Union of Junior School Teachers said they were shocked by the leadership of junior secondary school who went to the media and declared the end of the strike.
“The Strike is still there for the following reasons, we did not go on strike because of KUPPET, KUPPET did not call for strike and had no powers to tell junior secondary school teachers to end the strike,” he said.
He said KUPPET was not their employer and could not sign a return-to-work agreement with them as their employer was the Teacher’s Service Commission.
Ngumbao said the national government announced plans to employ 46,000 teachers while KUPPET was pushing for only 26, 000, which was unacceptable.
“We want 46,000 teachers to be employed and be compensated, and internship is illegal,” said the secretary general.
Ngumbao said the teachers Service Commission was not there when the agreement was signed and they termed it null and void as it did not have a logo and signatures of their officially recognized seniors.
He said there would be no retooling or returning to work until they are compensated and employed.
He told all junior secondary school teachers not to go to work adding that they would go and stage their strike at the retooling centres on Monday.
Mwanahamisi Gawawa an official said they do not recognize the interim leaders and only recognize their spokesperson Omar Omar and secretary eneral Daniel Mureithi.
“The Magic number is 46,000 not 26,000 so if you bring stories of 26,000, we do not understand them and we shall not go back to school,” she said.
Gawawa said the internship was illegal and wanted all the 46,000 teachers to be employed so that they could return to school.
By Dickson Wekesa