After hefty pay award, teachers should now audit their performance

NAIROBI: The Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers emerged victorious in a protracted court battle over demands for increased pay for teachers that has lasted since 1997. This was after the Labour Relations Court awarded them salary increments of between 50 and 60 per cent, spread over four years.

While the teachers expected the court's ruling to be a fait accompli, and that arrears due to them would be effected immediately, they might have to wait a little longer because their employer, the Teachers Service Commission, has signalled its intention to contest the ruling.

This is premised on the assertion that the economy cannot support an extra Sh52 billion load that the award to teachers translates into in the current financial budget. That is understandable. It should be recalled that other civil servants have been trying to get pay rises to no avail. Nevertheless, while we hold no brief for the Government, we must accept the economy has taken a beating lately and every single Kenyan feels the dip.

Teachers' union representatives attempted to pre-empt a contestation of the court award by warning Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi not to contemplate appealing the ruling. In pitching for better remuneration for teachers, which is their core mandate, the unions acquitted themselves well and, going forward, it should be impressed on them that legal redress would achieve more in a shorter while than grandstanding and counter-productive strikes repeated for decades.

Workers anywhere deserve pay that is commensurate with the work they put in. During this year's Labour Day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta advised workers to demand for more pay, only after proving that their input justifies such demands.

And while appreciating the difficult work of being a teacher, and sometimes the difficult working conditions in some areas of the country like the North Eastern region where Al Shabaab forays into the country make it unsafe, it is time for the teachers to carry out self-appraisal. Reports by various institutions reveal that all is not well with education in the country.

Only recently, the Teachers Service Commission deregistered more than 120 teachers for unbecoming behaviour. The cases of teachers sexually molesting minors are frequent.

According to a recent report by Unesco, a greater number of teachers have taken to alcoholism which, naturally, leads to absenteeism. The end result of this is that students don't benefit and are only rushed through the set curriculum. The level of reading and writing skills among students is wanting. This has not only been observed in primary and secondary schools, some students in colleges and universities can barely express themselves in basic English.

If students have a poor grasp of English grammar, which is the language of instruction, it follows therefore that they cannot excel in other subjects. Take Mathematics for instance, a survey by the Ministry of Education early this year gave the shocking revelation that Standard 8 pupils could barely solve sums taught at lower primary level.

This is a serious indictment on teachers, who have no alternative, but to pull up their socks and restore the shine to the once noble profession, even as a lasting solution to their grievances is sought.