KNUT, KUPPET clash at State House over junior school placement

President William Ruto meets with teachers' unions at State House, Nairobi.[PCS]

A brief standoff between the two giant teacher unions, KNUT and KUPPET, emerged when President William Ruto met teachers at State House on Saturday after KUPPET called for reconsideration of where Junior School should be hosted.

Akello Misori, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers(KUPPET) secretary general, termed the hosting of Junior School in primary school as a mistake and called for the reversal and relocation of the institutions to the current secondary schools.

"Some of the policies that have come in the education sub-sector require serious interrogation, and such is the domiciling of junior school in our primary schools," Misori said.

The matter degenerated to a major split between KNUT and KUPPET as the members of the former erupted in dissent over the suggestion, and it only took efforts by the Basic Education PS Julius Bitok to restore order.

"This is the beauty of democracy because everyone has his or her say," the SG said.

KUPPET has, in the past, time and time again, called for the reconsideration of domiciling Junior School.

The decision to domicile the institutions in primary school was a result of a recommendation by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms(PWPER) appointed by President William Ruto in 2023 when he took office.

The team was tasked with re-examining the education sector and providing recommendations to streamline the sector from Primary school to higher education.

However, KUPPET detested the proposal by the Presidential working party, arguing that the current secondary schools have better facilities to accommodate Junior Schools.

The union has also argued that the Uhuru Kenyatta administration had laid the pipe for the transition of learners to secondary schools by constructing classes in the current secondary schools.

This, Misori, in a previous engagement stated it would lead to idle capacity in secondary schools.

Misori further called for a scale-up of promotion of teachers, even as he appreciated the record hiring of 76,000 teachers under Ruto's administration.