Teachers Threaten to storm KNEC offices Over Delayed Payment
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has threatened that it will lead teachers in storming the KNEC offices, should the latter decline to pay examiners within two weeks.
According to KUPPET, the 50,000 who marked last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam were yet to be paid.
Kuppet national chairman Omboko Milemba maintained that KNEC has no choice but pay the examiners before the two weeks lapse.
“We have given the examinations council two weeks to settle the bills or face the teachers’ wrath. If the bills are not settled by the end of March, Kuppet will mobilise the examiners to occupy the Knec head office,” Milemba said in a statement.
The Kuppet boss accused the government of taking teachers for granted.
“Despite the huge sacrifices the examiners made to serve their country in this critical assignment, they not been paid. The assignment came after a heavily-packed school year in which teachers hardly took a break,” he said.
Read also:
Primary School Head Teachers to Get JSS Deployment Letters
Teachers Deployed to JSS to Earn Higher Salaries
TSC extends JSS application Deadline
Union Gives KNEC 2 Weeks to Pay 2022 KCSE Examiners
Harmonise Examiners’ Pay For All the Papers, KUPPET Tells KNEC
TVET Examination Boards to Replace KNEC Exams
Stop Attacking Ruto’s Government Online, KNUT Tells Teachers
Milemba, who is also the MP for Emuhaya, noted that the teachers endured poor conditions, long hours working hours, poor accommodation in students’ dormitories, yet their grievances have not been addressed.
“These conditions have not been addressed for so long that examination marking has become a suffering ritual for some of the country’s best teachers. The examiners are often forced to employ different methods of protest before their grievances are addressed,” he stated.
Milemba said labour laws demand that workers who render their services should be paid commensurate with the work done and on time.
He accused Knec of failing to honour its contract with the examiners after they accomplished their duty.
“The Knec dues are part of a ballooning ‘pending bills’ the government owes teachers for work done in ‘acting positions’ at all levels of responsibility. In fact, teachers have provided the largest service to the government which remains unqualified pending bills,” Milemba said.
