Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion has outlined five fresh demands ahead of the scheduled reopening of schools in September 2020.
In a statement addressed to the Teachers Service Commission Chief Executive Nancy Macharia dated Friday, June 12, the outspoken union leader noted that safety for teachers and pupils was paramount.
Localise teachers and prepare psychologically
Sossion challenged the commission to suspend its delocalisation policy arguing that for safety to prevail, teachers should be posted in schools next to their places of residence.
This, he explained, would limit movement, especially in rural areas, in which teachers use public transport means every weekend to spend time with their families.
“The delocalisation policy should be repealed with immediate effect to allow teachers to serve in their localities. TSC should reorganise staffing to ensure zero movements.
“Rural teachers posted in locations far away from their families or homes tend to take extended weekend breaks to visit their families,” reads the letter in part.
"The commission needs to start preparing teachers emotionally, psychologically and professionally on how to deal with Covid-19 and possible stigma associated with the pandemic,” Sossion added.
Treatment facilities
Sossion also listed construction of treatment facilities as paramount noting that after the economy resumes, a spike in positive cases is likely to be experienced and the health sector should be able to handle the surge.
He argued that the teaching profession would be among the worst-hit due to a huge number of teachers aged over 50 years.
In Kenya, more than 50,000 teachers are aged 50 years and above.
Northern Kenya and Social distancing
The counties of Mandera, Garissa and Wajir, prior to the pandemic, had been experiencing terror threats and ethnic clashes that led to non-local teachers to flee citing unfavorable working environments.
KNUT demanded that in the three months leading to September, TSC needed to develop a clear plan on how it would handle the challenges in the region while ensuring safety against the virus.
The union also demanded that, in line with the state's social distancing rule and public gathering policy, all classes should have a minimum of 15 learners, a demand that would have classes subdivided into many streams.
That would hence call for an expanded workforce in which 400,000 teachers would have to be hired to fill the deficit.
He also suggested that all teachers hired by school boards to be absorbed by TSC to boost the numbers.
At the beginning of 2020, cases of teachers being victims of al-Shabaab attacks in Mandera had spiked including a January incident in which 3 teachers were killed after gunmen attacked Kamuthe Resource Centre.
The cases had become widespread in Wajir, Mandera, Lamu and Garissa counties prompting Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai's response declaring war against the militants.
