Kenya National Union of Teachers won't go on strike for the sake of national exams: Sossion

Kenya: The looming countrywide teachers' strike could be suspended for the sake of national exams, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion has said.

Mr Sossion said they had no intention of calling for the strike to avoid interrupting this years' Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).

Speaking in Kisii Friday, Sossion said they would not leave the negotiation table but maintained that KNUT would continue piling pressure on the Government to increase salaries for teachers.

He said the teachers' body will issue its next course of action after the October 24 meeting with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

"We want to assure the candidates and the public that we will not disrupt the examination but reasonably allow our members to continue handling exam as we engage the government," said Sossion.

He accused KNUT's rival union Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) of trying to scuttle the salary negotiation between the teachers and the government and dared them to carry on with their bid for a parallel strike.

According to the Secretary General, the negotiations were going on smoothly and that there was no stalemate.

But he warned the Government that it risked a general workers strike should it fail to handle the teachers’ plight in time.

"We don't want to waste over eight years that parents and the candidates have invested to prepare for their exams; it will be unfair for teachers to deny them a chance to sit for the exam."

He further hit at the County Governments for taking TSC's role in employing ECD teachers adding that the process was killing the teaching profession.

He explained that KNUT was in the initial stage of preparing a policy paper to be submitted to the Government for the next financial year.

"Teachers are suffering because we lack a properly constituted teacher's commission. Our aim is to have a quality education system with quality teachers and quality learning environment," explained Sossion.

He stated that KNUT was not supporting the Opposition and the Council of Governors in the quest for a national referendum, saying the country was divided and there was no need to create further anxiety among Kenyans.

"Be assured that teachers won't support calls to hold any kind of polls before 2017. We need to stabilise this country. The constitution can be rectified later," he said.