Wilson Sossion, the former secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), has blamed the low results in the KCSE exam of last year on the fact that most schools do not have enough motivated teachers.
Speaking on Tuesday's Daybreak Show on Citizen TV, Sossion voiced concern about the nation's high percentage of grade E students and that over half of the candidates had D or E grades.
The senator who has been nominated claims that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) should make more significant investments in hiring competent educators for classrooms across the nation, regardless of whether an institution is classified as a national, extra-county, county, or sub-county division.
According to him, this would ensure that students nationwide receive high-quality instruction equally without favoring some schools.
Did you read this?
"Invest in teachers for every school; not national schools but all schools without categorization because that is promoting discrimination and inequity," he said.
The former KNUT CEO continued mentioning Tenwek High School in Bomet County, where he had previously taught. He added that the school's long history of high achievement and stability resulted from the management's efforts to hire instructors even when they weren't on the board.
During his time there, Sossion asserted that the school's students performed exceptionally well because the Board of Management employed half of the teachers.
"If you check the schools that have posted A's, they have gone the extra mile to hire BOM teachers. Tenwek High School; out of the 100 teachers in the staffroom, 50 teachers are employed by the BoM," he said.
The MP also urged the government to guarantee the motivation of educators who did well in the recently finished exams and that educational establishments have the necessary infrastructure and teaching resources.
"How many teachers have we seen being rewarded for doing well? The president has reinstated both direct and indirect promotions," he said.
"I would expect that TSC lays out a plan so that teachers who have done well are motivated. Quality report and review of every school's performance."
Emuhaya MP and KUPPET Secretary General Omboko Milemba echoed Sossion's views when they emphasized the need for tutor motivation.
"We have the challenge of teachers but above all, it has not been easy to push the government to motivate teachers enough, even in terms of employment, promotion, and payment of salaries," he said.
Teachers are demotivated and have yet to be very motivated in pay because promotions have been stopped for the most extended period.
At the same time, Milemba expressed confidence in the current administration after it decided to hire 55,000 new teachers in a single year.
Of the 899,453 candidates who took the KCSE, only 201,133 students received a mean grade of C+ or higher. Of the candidates who took the test, roughly 5% (48,173) received an E.
