• Say schools should not be compelled to cater for training expenses.
• Want problem of teacher shortage addressed first.
Image: FILE
Siaya teachers have pledged to boycott training on the new curriculum scheduled to start tomorrow (Tuesday).
Siaya subcounty Knut executive secretary Alex Dunga said teachers will not attend the Competency-Based Curriculum training to begin in zones across the county.
Dunga argued that there is no way they can attend the training while the input of education stakeholders was not adequately included.
“The union of teachers and associations of both primary and secondary school heads were not incorporated in the arrangement,” he told the Star at his office in Siaya town.
The Knut official asked why the government had to rush with the implementation of the new curriculum.
The training has been organised by the Ministry of Education.
“The education sector is still facing a lot of challenges including teachers’ shortage and inadequate learning facilities. Why can't they address one problem at a time instead of accumulating problems?” Dunga asked.
He asked teachers not to attend the training until the government heeds their demands.
“We have also established that the Ministry of Education had not made adequate preparations because there is no way schools can be compelled to cater for the training expenses," Dunga said.
The Siaya teachers' boss also condemned the government plans to impose the 1.5 per cent deductions for a housing levy on government workers’ salaries, noting that the teachers’ leadership has not been consulted.
Dunga warned that teachers will not open schools next term, should the government deduct any amount from their April salaries.
The court has put the deduction on hold until the case is determined.
He was joined by branch chairman Hippolytus Omondi, treasurer Zabbedy Oriwo and a number of the branch executive committee members.
The move to boycott the training on the new curriculum comes few weeks after Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi asked Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha to "go slow" on implementation of the new curriculum.
Wandayi said education is a broad and a serious field that needs adequate preparation not only for teachers but for all stakeholders.
The Ugunja MP said the report by the Knut chair on the new curriculum has raised very weighty issues that cannot be swept under the carpet without review.
Earlier, Kenya National Union of Teachers secretary general Wilson Sossion had also warned that teachers were are not comfortable with the new curriculum and lacked adequate preparation.
Sossion said they will resist the imposition of the curriculum to teachers going forward as "they are the shoe wearers and they know where they are pinched most."
But Education CS George Magoha has insisted that his first priority in office is to implement the new curriculum in the shortest time possible.
The new education replaces the current Standard 1 to Form 4 with Grade 1 to Grade 12. It has been categorised into three phases, Early Years Education covering nursery education to Grade 3, Middle School Education covering grades 4 to 9 and Senior School covering grades 10 to 12.
(Edited by R. Wamochie)