Kenyans paying too much for no education

By Kipkirui K’Telwa

American human rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson questions teachers’ "rights to strike for more money when the employer — tax paying parent —holds tax receipts in one hand and test results in the other that proves he is paying more and more for less and less."

This is what is happening in Kenya where thousands of public school-going pupils are at home after Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) members went on strike demanding more pay.

And these children might be forced to idle at home for longer time until Knut officials and Government reach a pay truce.

Already, the government, through Teachers Service Commission (TSC), has gone to court to seek redress. The industrial Court declared the strike illegal and striking teachers risk losing their pay for days not worked.

Writing in Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, James Bovard questions the relevance of teachers’ unions in the management of education.

"Government schools are increasingly run by the unions and for the unions," writes Bovard in his article titled, Teachers Unions: are schools run for them?

So what next in Kenya’s public education sector? The teachers stormed out of school to press for more pay but the employer goes to court seeking orders to have the strike "declared illegal and powers to withhold pay for unworked day" which are granted.

In these hard economic times, teachers with pressing financial needs have little options, but to break the strike and reluctantly drag their feet to classrooms. This is the sad reality that teachers have to bear with. For despite huge contributions they collect from the over 240,000 teachers, Knut cannot compensate them if TSC withholds payment for unworked days.