The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has petitioned Parliament concerning the fate of 46,550 teachers who have stagnated in a job group despite having the qualifications and schools having vacancies.

In a meeting yesterday with the Education Committee of the National Assembly, Kuppet Secretary-General Akello Misori presented KUPPET’s research findings showing that thousands of teachers have stalled their careers and also lost on income estimated at over Sh2 billion.

According to the report that was presented during a consultative meeting on the Supplementary Estimates for 2022/2023, there are 124,105 teachers serving in post-primary institutions. Many of them have been serving in administrative positions in acting capacities but without matching pay.

Among those who have stagnated, 24,082 have served more than five years in job Grade C3. Misori said this could be due to over-concentration of administrators in middle grades. Secondary school teachers join the service at Grade C2 and are automatically promoted after serving for three years.

According to misori, Such teachers are owed pending bills estimated at Sh2 billion, based on budget estimates for the cost of promotions to administrative positions in the last collective bargaining agreement (CBA) cycle.

“Since each learning institution must have, on the minimum, five administrators (a principal, a deputy principal and three senior masters heading a department), the 11,000 secondary schools and teacher training colleges in Kenya must have a minimum of 57,257 administrators in these three positions.”

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According to Kuppet, there are 32,000 teachers currently in administrative positions, leaving a huge deficit. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) promotes teachers based on the career progression guidelines (CPGs) introduced in 2016. The guidelines for promotion include relevant experience, satisfactory performance, minimum qualifications and the relevant professional development modules attained.

“Regrettably, the CPGs have not lived to their billing. After six years, thousands of teachers are still stuck in low promotional grades, unable to benefit from the promotions promised under the CPGs,” Misori said.

Misori asked Parliament to direct the TSC to establish a parallel career path for classroom teachers who are not in administrative positions. In the teaching service, the lowest rank is B5 (Teacher Scale 5), the entry grade for a primary school teacher while the highest grade is D5 (Teacher Scale 15), principal of the largest schools in Kenya and Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) including Kenya Institute of Special Education and the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa.

“The TSC could borrow best practices from public universities where academic staff can rise to become full professors without necessarily serving in administrative positions,” he said. He called on TSC to confirm the teachers who are serving in acting capacities and limit the practice of internal appointments. The union further called for the promotion of 498 chief principals, 383 senior principals, 2,556 principals and 36,426 senior masters to existing vacancies.

In December last year, TSC cancelled an advert for 14,738 promotion vacancies amid protests by teachers. Then Kuppet chair Omboko Milemba backed the cancellation and asked TSC to increase the number of vacancies, saying, many deserving teachers would be left out.

TSC has blamed lack of funds allocation for the failure to promote teachers and employ more.

“The commission has not been granted additional budgetary allocations for the promotion of teachers for the past 10 years except in July 2017,” TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia said when she appeared before the committee in December.

She said promotion is based on vacancies arising from natural attrition.

The endorsement of the Azimio la umoja presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga by a section of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) officials has caused a stir in the union, with some leaders maintaining that KUPPET is non-partisan. This is after a KUPPET official has distanced the union from an endorsement of Raila Odinga as a preferred presidential candidate for the August 9 poll.

According to KUPPET national vice treasurer Ronald Tonui, the move by some officials to endorse the candidate are personal.

Tonui maintained that as a union, they will continue to remain independent on matters politics and that positions taken at an individual level will not be interpreted to imply that that was their stand.

“I want to dissociate myself from the reports that KUPPET has endorsed the Azimio la Umoja candidate as their most preferred presidential candidate in the forthcoming election,” Tonui said.

“We have never endorsed any party as our visionary leader since issues to do with politics are personal and cannot be institutionalized,” added Tonui.

Over 30 KNUT and KUPPET members comprising of teachers and union officials from Kiambu on Wednesday held a breakfast meeting with Azimio’s running mate Martha Karua where they agreed to rally behind Odinga.

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Led by KNUT secretary general Collins Oyuu and Kuppet secretary-general Akello Misori, the team noted that through the azimio la umoja manifesto, more teachers are going to be employed and that salaries are going to be reviewed.

Tonui argued that the politicization of unions was one aimed at nothing but killing and tainting its image, considering the woes that befell KNUT a while back.

“A lot should be derived from the 2017 endorsement of ODM by KNUT partisan party an action that almost finished it for we do not know what awaits us in the coming government,” said Tonui.

He added that the choice to endorse or elect a leader is a personal democratic right that cannot extend to the union as it might lead to division.

“Teachers should never be divided based on individual interests on political parties or leaders it should be a personal approach,” he added.

He added teachers should be focusing on articulating their issues in a more sober manner rather than taking political sides.

Currently, Kuppet has the highest number of politicians who are doubling up as national office union officials and members of Parliament.

National Chairman Omboko Milemba is the MP for Emuhaya. Assistant National Treasurer Ronald Tonui is the MP for Bomet Central Constituency, while the national secretary gender, Ms Catherine Wambilyanga, is the woman rep Bungoma County. Mr Tonui is a two term MP.

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the push for Kuppet officials to seek elective positions in the General Election will enable them to serve teachers better and also get an opportunity to serve their communities.

The three Kuppet officials being in Parliament has helped teachers more than they could have if they were not MPs, he added. For instance, he said, Mr Milemba has been at the forefront in championing allocation of more funds to the teaching fraternity.

While the Kuppet Constitution does not bar union officials from contesting for political elective posts, critics have accused the officials of neglecting their duties in the union to enter into politics.

List Of knut Officials Contesting For Political Seats In 2022 General Elections

The Kenya union of post primary education teachers, KUPPET, Has released dates and venues for branch elections in all the 47 counties.

Each branch will have 10 elective seats and 3 nomination slots. The elective seats will be: chairperson, vice chair person, executive secretary, vice executive secretary, treasurer, assistant treasurer, organizing secretary, secretary secondary, secretary tertiary and gender secretary.

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To be eligible as a voter, one must:

• Be a registered member of KUPPET, and must have contributed union dues consistently for 13 weeks.
• Show latest pay slip
• Have a national ID card

Below are KUPPET Branch election dates and venues per county.

The Kenya national union of post primary education teachers, KUPPET, has issued an end year report, which reveals the challenges awaiting teachers when schools reopen next week. The report, dubbed ‘Hard Work Awaits After School Reopening in 2021’, also reveals that that at least 50,000 teachers are needed in public schools to accommodate the learners, even as the school managers struggle to look for space and desks for the children.

According to the report, children who may have lost their parents, guardians or siblings to the corona virus disease will have to be offered guidance and counseling by teachers.

“Besides losing parents, breadwinners and loved ones, many learners have suffered economic and social trauma that will affect them for years,” read the report, signed by KUPPET secretary-general, Akelo Misori.

Teachers will also deal with a section of learners, who will come from homes where they experienced domestic violence during the prolonged break.

“Stigma associated with this pandemic, including child abuse, pregnancies, juvenile crime and recidivist behaviors, will be a reality in our institutions, affecting learners and teachers,” said Misori.

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The report has urged schools to devise programmes to take care of the mental health of teachers “who have undergone immense stress during the period.”

Misori asked teachers to be accommodating and to protect their students’ secrets.

“When adolescents confide in counselors, they should be confident that their conversations will not seep into the staffrooms or in any way interface with their studies and relationship with teachers.”

Teachers will also be required to make plans to receive learners and guarantee their safety and health during their stay in school.

The rules are contained in the ‘Guidelines on Health and Safety Protocols for Reopening of Basic Education Institutions amid Covid-19 Pandemic’, which put teachers at the heart of successful management of the disease.

Their roles will range from ensuring hygiene, security, creating adequate space for social distancing and enforcing all Ministry of Healthy guidelines.

They will also ensure that learners, staff and parents wear face masks in the school compound.

Misori said the Government had repeatedly pledged to supply reusable face masks to all learners but noted that no school had confirmed receiving supplies.

From next week, teachers will be required to communicate to parents and learners on the measures put in place to guarantee their health and safety.

Through the report, the secretary general told teachers to work Hard to ensure full coverage of the school syllabus and help enhance transition, which would effect restoration of the academic calendar.

“Teachers will devise ways of recouping the time lost, including through holiday and weekend tuition. After missing out on an entire academic year, schools will strive to ensure no more days are lost again by our learners,” said Misori.

The union also advised that the crash study programme must be balanced with extracurricular activities to keep students engaged and relaxed to avoid unrest.

“The government should disburse capitation funds for the 2020 academic year to schools to help the institutions prepare for the reopening,” said Misori.

The official also warned that the teaching staff will be overstretched and called for more tutors to be hired.

“In Kuppet’s estimate, to maintain current staffing levels, Kenya needs 50,000 new teachers in 2021 and a further 15,000 every year for the subsequent five years.”

Misori said that private schools will also need more teachers to cater for new classes and a heavier workload related to the creation of virtual content, and for health and environmental management in schools.

Teachers will also be required to streamline transport management systems to prevent transmission of the disease, and provide weekly progress report on the status of their institutions.

The guidelines compel teachers to follow up on all cases of absenteeism and work with officials from the Ministry of Interior to reduce the dropout rate.

The Kuppet report notes that having spent a lengthy period away from school, learners will face difficulties readjusting to the system.

“Many will show weaker mastery of curriculum content. Students who lost their parents, or those from poor families affected by Covid-related job losses, will face difficulties raising school fees; while those who suffered abuse, became pregnant or have delivered babies may show aggression or withdrawal,” said Misori.

Under the ministry’s Covid-19 guidelines, teachers will be required to ensure that right class sizes are maintained to ensure adherence to social distancing.

Kuppet also observed that additional classrooms, laboratories, libraries, desks and dormitories will be necessary to meet social distancing regulations. “In underserved areas where privately funded schools may have collapsed, public ones will require greater infrastructure to cater for learners transferring from moribund institutions,” said Misori.

The ministry document says that availability of liquid soap, hand-washing facilities, disinfectants, thermal guns and facemasks, and enforcement of their utilisation will be the work of teachers.

The union also wants water and sanitation facilities for regular handwashing to be made available.