Teachers oppose new rules on weekends and public holidays

KNUT SG Wilson Sossion chat with TSC CEO Ms.Nancy Macharia during National Conference for Curriculum Reforms at KICC, Nairobi on Monday 30/01/17.PHOTO:BONIFACE OKENDO

Teachers are up in arms tough rules to keep them in school during weekends and public holidays.

In a circular dated February 2, Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Nancy Macharia directed Government ministries, agencies and non-governmental organisations undertaking educational tasks that require teacher participation to schedule these for weekends and school holidays.

The same rule applies to teacher's Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (Saccos) and union officials wishing to meet their members.

Teachers will also be required to have written permission to be away from their institutions when co-curricular activities are taking place on weekends or public holidays.

According to TSC, the new directives are meant to keep teachers in class for effective curriculum implementation.

But teachers are not happy about the rules.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Wilson Sossion said the directive will hurt teachers.

"Teachers are already over-burdened due to the high number of learners. They are not refusing to teach but the focus should be on employing more teachers not making them work on weekends and holidays," Sossion said.

He said that if the student-teacher ratio is addressed, then the country can be sure that it is moving in the right direction.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Kisumu branch executive secretary Zablon Awange opposed the directive.

"It is uncalled-for, punitive, in bad faith, unfortunate and intended to punish the teacher as it will interfere with their right to rest and enjoy their social activities.

Kuppet argues that the new directive went against an earlier one issued by the Ministry of Education.

"The TSC circular is in bad taste since the official working hours have been gazetted by the Ministry of Education. If it is not withdrawn, we will challenge it in court," he said.

He called on Government to instead hire more teachers as it prepares to roll out the proposed 2-6-6-3 curriculum to fill the estimated gap of 100,000 teachers.

The directive is addressed to all county directors, principals of national polytechnics, institutes of science and technology and technical training institutes.

Others are director of Kenya Institute of Secondary Education, principals of both diploma and primary teacher training colleges, principals of secondary schools, head teachers of primary schools and all teachers.