The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) is blaming the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) for the countrywide demonstrations by Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers.
Collins Oyuu, Secretary General of the KNUT, has accused KUPPET of funding JSS teachers' rallies around the country in order to pressure the government into hiring them on permanent and pensionable terms.
He claims that it is improper for KUPPET to mislead JSS teachers into protesting, as this is a labor union mandate. Oyuu stated that the instructors' contracts may be terminated, but KUPPET cannot defend them.
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According to the Secretary-General, KNUT also wants JSS teachers to be hired on a permanent and pensionable basis, but this can only be accomplished through proper procedures rather than public protests.
The KNUT president stated that trade unions' tasks should be lobbying and proper counsel to their members, not misleading them.
On Sunday, he spoke at a fundraiser at Gagra Catholic Church, where he declared that conversation, not protests, is the only solution to the JSS teachers' current problems.
Oyuu emphasized KNUT's willingness to meet with the government through the Ministry of Education to discuss how those instructors could be absorbed on a permanent and pensionable basis.
Teachers have protested in numerous counties over the previous two weeks, threatening to strike in January if their work terms are not amended.
A few weeks ago, a group of Junior Secondary School (JSS) tutor interns in Migori County threatened to go to the streets if the Ministry of Education did not hire them on a permanent basis.
Following a meeting with the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), they expressed their desire to be hired permanently after finishing their training on the new curriculum.
Orwa Jasolo, chairman of the Migori branch Teachers' Union, chastised the government for failing to keep a pledge to hire the teachers on permanent contracts.
