Interior PS Raymond Omollo with Knut national and
Nyanza region officials in Mombasa on Sunday / BRIAN OTIENO
Interior PS Raymond Omollo with Knut national and
Nyanza region officials in Mombasa on Sunday / BRIAN OTIENO
Interior PS Raymond Omollo with Knut national and
Nyanza region officials in Mombasa on Sunday / BRIAN OTIENOTeachers from the Nyanza region have hailed the leadership of President William Ruto, saying he has done more in two and a half years than the other regimes did in a decade.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Nyanza regional council, who were led by Knut secretary general Collins Oyuu and chairman Patrick Karinga, said the union’s former secretary generals always indicated that they must work with the government of the day to achieve anything.
“It is only when you get to the table with the government that you can reap for the teachers whom you lead. You saw too well when we were not working with the government, this union died,” Oyuu said.
Speaking in Mombasa, Oyuu said during the adversarial leadership of his predecessor, Wilson Sossion, the union could not even negotiate with the Teachers Service Commission, which by extension is the government.
He spoke on Sunday after a meeting between the Knut Nyanza regional leadership with Interior PS Raymond Omollo in Mombasa to deliberate on the issues affecting the teaching fraternity from the region.
The Secretary General pledged support for the government, saying in the last two-and-a-half years, it has employed 76,000 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
He said some Sh1 billion was released to the TSC for promotion of some 25,000 teachers and an additional Sh1 billion shall be given for the promotion of another 50,000 teachers.
North Kanyamkago MCA George Omamba said teachers are a key constituency that shapes the leaders of the country through their work.
He called on Omollo to continue supporting teachers.
The PS said the government is committed to improving the education standards in Kenya, and that is why the TSC has hired more teachers in two-and-a-half years under the Kenya Kwanza regime than they have done in the previous decade.
“Apart from the 76,000 teachers already hired, there is an additional 24,000 to be hired in January next year to address the historical teacher shortage that has been hampering education standards in the country,” the PS said, adding that an additional 20,000 teachers will be employed before 2027.
Omollo said 23,000 classrooms have been built over the last three years.
“But there is a need for us to do much more than that so that our learners can have a good environment,” he said.
He said teachers would get 20 per cent of the housing units being built across the country in the Affordable Housing programme.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to reduce the cycle of the Collective Bargaining Agreement from the current four years to about two years.
This means, if it comes to fruition, teachers’ welfare will be improved every two years, giving motivation for them to work even harder to nurture learners to be the best in their different fields of study.
Omollo appreciated the Nyanza teachers’ support for President Ruto, saying it will go a long way to ensuring the region’s education standards improve drastically.
“There is that commitment that we will work together because we have a good partnership that supports the education sector in this country. The programmes that President Ruto is undertaking must be sustained,” Omollo said.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
Oyuu said the adversarial nature of Knut under Wilson Sossion towards the government made the union die because it could not negotiate for teachers. The government was fighting the union so much so that it died. That is why Oyuu wants to work with the government for the teachers to benefit from it.
