Government should listen to teachers’ plea

The just-ended 37th Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association annual conference in Mombasa has brought out a number of issues that the Government must urgently address.
On top of the list is the recruitment of primary and secondary school teachers to bridge the gap that currently stands at 80,000.
The 10,000 teachers factored in the budget last month by Finance Minister Njeru Githae is a welcome effort towards this end. But the pace is not good enough if the gap with an annual growth of 17,000 teachers is to be bridged.
Today, there are 8.7 million pupils in primary schools, up from 5.9 million in 2003. And in secondary schools, there are 1.9 million students up from 1.28 million in 2008. This number continues to grow yet few teachers are being recruited.
The head teachers, who have been meeting for the past one week, also said there is need to streamline Early Childhood Education by hiring 25,000 teachers in the first phase to enhance a strong foundation for learners.
This is an area much talked about by Government officials, but little has been done to restructure it. Nursery school teachers should be on the Teachers Service Commission’s payroll for stability and enhanced quality of educational foundation.
Teachers also want the Government to make available Sh2.5 billion to buy sanitary towels for needy schoolgirls in a bold move to seal the gender parity.
As Education Minister Mutula Kilonzo rightly put it, most poor families may struggle to buy food, but may not do the same for sanitary towels for their daughters. This, sadly, keeps many girls out of school during menstruation.
Statistics from the Ministry of Education show there are some 2.2 million primary school girls, and another 400,000 girls in secondary schools in need of sanitary towels.
This, by any standards, is not a small number and if the problem is not addressed, it may frustrate efforts towards realising gender parity and equality as enshrined in the Constitution.
With the Sh300 million allocated towards the same by Mr Githae in the Budget, only about 500,000 girls may benefit. This is an area the Government must urgently address.
In its pilot project this year, a similar amount was spent to buy the towels for 443,858 girls. A deliberate move to allocate the required funds is not an option for the Government.
The teachers’ conference also demanded the Education Bill, Kenya National Examination Council Bill, Kenya Institute of Education Bill, and the Teachers Service Commission Bill be fast tracked to ensure they are in place before the General Election to guide educational reforms.
Although the TSC Bill 2012 went through the second reading in Parliament last week, teachers say reforms at TSC have slowed down because of the delayed enactment of the law.
Also, teachers said the current curriculum should be overhauled to make it responsive to the prevailing and emerging social, technological, and economic needs as well as promoting patriotism, national values, and character development.
They also want a robust contributory pension scheme that will benefit them in their sunset days. They said most teachers do not benefit from the current scheme as it takes more than two years for payments to be processed.
It is also true that motivated teachers perform better. This explains why the teachers asked for a salary increment and completion of the full implementation of teachers’ allowances as provided in Legal Notice No 534.
As the political climate hots up, it was not lost on teachers that this might affect learning if leaders do not handle their campaigns in a mature and patriotic manner. They demanded that politicians must ensure peaceful elections so that learning is not disrupted.
Leaders must therefore heed the teachers’ call and ensure they ascribe to the principles of peaceful, free and fair General Election and a smooth transition. They owe this to the country.
Teachers play a crucial role in shaping our children and we hope the Government is listening to their demands and counsel.

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KTN Newsdesk 18.05.2013

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