Teachers marking KCSE exams at Moi Girls in Nairobi on Monday, May 3, downed their tools and took to the streets to lament over unpaid allowances.
Armed with chants, the teachers decried their situation arguing that they had resorted to the streets after the government failed to adhere to their plight.
In a video seen by Kenyans.co.ke, police officers could be seen trying to calm the situation.
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The strike comes at a time when Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha had declared that the ministry was on schedule to complete marking the KCSE results. He affirmed that the ministry would release the results on Monday, May 10.
"We experienced a number of cases where examination officials attempted to open the papers with the intention of exposing them to candidates before the actual examinations started.
"We thwarted these efforts in a few centers countrywide, some of which I released to you during my weekly briefs,” Magoha stated in a past press briefing.
Further, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) had initially issued a warning to the government that teachers would boycott the marking of KCSE exams if their needs were not addressed.
KUPPET Secretary General Akelo Misori had urged the government to release funds for teachers' allowances as well as expand exam centers in order to attain the social distancing requirement issued by the Ministry of Health.
"We had expected the government to have already made provisions that exam centers be expanded due to Covid-19 protocols. The current regime is that there's a lot of congestion among the teachers," Misori stated.
Misori appealed to Magoha to help speed up the release of capitation funds to enable schools to efficiently manage the national exams.
His sentiments were also echoed by Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman Kahi Indimuli who decried the situation citing that it would be difficult to manage the national examinations due to financial constraints.
“The government promised to release the funds a few weeks ago and we are still waiting,” Indimuli stated.
