Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion on Thursday, May 14, lamented about the union's apparent exclusion from key committees by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha.
KNUT claims it was not included in constituting of the Curriculum Review Taskforce and the 10-member Covid-19 National Education Response Committee.
Sossion, in a letter, accused Magoha of sidelining the union from critical committees in the education sector and demanded that teachers be included.
"The Union despite being a principal player in the basic education subsector the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Science and Technology, Professor George Magoha has continued to maliciously exclude it from major decisions making processes that would define the future of education of this country," noted Sossion.
The Curriculum Review Task Force is chaired by Professor Fatuma Chege while the Covid-19 National Education Response Committee, that will determine the formula for reopening schools, is chaired by KICD chair Sarah Ruto.
Sossion noted that the exclusion contravenes international convention treaties, protocols and agreements as outlined by the International Labour Organisation and UNESCO.
He added that the sidelining further contravened the Constitution of Kenya which makes public participation a right of citizens and argued that teachers have a constitutional right to sit in all the taskforces through their union.
Covid-19 National Education Response Committee, however, includes the chairpersons of primary and secondary school headteachers associations.
Sossion went on to argue that Magoha could not implement a competency-based curriculum through a taskforce that excludes the union.
Magoha had earlier told the National Assembly Education Committee that the reopening of schools would depend on how the Covid-19 pandemic is managed arguing that it was conceivable that the closure could even extend for a year.
"Irrespective of what we are saying, the pandemic must come under control first. Everything else will have to follow. All these questions will depend on how the government will control the pandemic," stated Magoha.
On Tuesday, May 5, the CS, noted that the ministry would cut back on holidays to allow for the completion of the syllabus by primary school pupils and high school students.
