The teachers currently plying their trade in private schools have continued to be exploited without either Knut or Kuppet raising a finger. They are paid peanuts and work under extremely difficult conditions.
Some are forced to live within the schools in dilapidated houses and have no private life. They are monitored on an hourly basis and are constantly threatened with the sack.
Knut and Kuppet had remained mum until the Government came up with the programme to hire interns. Now the unions are screaming blue murder.
Suddenly, these forgotten teachers have became "members" overnight and unions are spending our money to defend non-members who had not solicited any defence in the first place.
Devil they know
Anyway, the teachers to be hired as interns would rather deal with the Government, which is the devil they know. In turn, the unions should just let the Government hire the interns and end the biting teacher shortage.
Let us not sacrifice the future of our children just because unions are money hungry. Anyway, why has no one found it necessary to ask the ‘unemployed teachers’ what they think or want?
{Mutahi Kahiga, via e-mail}
A lot has been said and written about the biting teacher shortage in our schools but there doesn’t seem to be a solution in the foreseeable future.
A shortage of almost 70,000 teachers is alarming and is definitely compromising the standards of education. Teachers are overworked and underpaid, leading to low morale and mediocre output.
However, it is sad to note that more than Sh4 billion meant for the hiring of intern teachers is lying idle at The Treasury because the Government and teachers’ unions cannot resolve their differences.
This selfishness must end immediately. Knut should sit down with Government officials and thrash out an amicable solution. The chest-thumping and uncivil verbal exchanges must come to an end.
Instead, they should think of the welfare of the children suffering through no fault of their own.
{Philip Mbindyo, Sawagongo}
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