Sossion: I have Credible Information that TSC is Disobeying the Court

Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion has alluded that he has information incriminating the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on the issue of hiring the 70,000 relief teachers.

Sossion said that TSC had been instructed to hire the tutors in preparation for the lapse of the 90 day suspension of the strike that was ordered by the court.

The Secretary General added that TSC was disobeying court's ruling by participating in illegalities like recruiting relief teachers.

Earlier this month, the Employment and Labour Relations Court barred the hiring of the 70, 000 teachers as advertised by TSC after Trade Union Congress of Kenya filed a petition challenging the recruitment.

Read Also: Court Stops Hiring of 70,000 Teachers

On Tuesday, however, TSC announced that it had stopped hiring of the relief tutors in adherence to a court ruling, as they await a hearing slated for October 12th  2015 where the recruitment case will be determined.

Nonetheless, TSC's CEO Nancy Macharia yesterday instructed all teachers who were already recruited before the court's orders, to fill in for the striking teachers, to continue working in their allocated schools.

Speaking before the National Assembly Committee on Education, Macharia downplayed the claim that the teachers were hired due to the recent strike, saying that the step followed the need to cover the teachers' shortage in the country.

KNUT had instructed the striking teachers to go back to work following the ruling by the court to suspend the 5 week industrial action.

The union, however, emphasised that the strike had not stopped but rather suspended for 90 days in obedience to the court's ruling.

Read Also: New Teachers to Continue Working Despite Court Order