The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers has supported calls to abolish boarding schools due to rampant student unrest.
Chairman Omboko Milemba said it is time for the national government to abolish the boarding school across the country to restore order in schools.
“There is a need for the national government together with stakeholders to rethink the boarding school policy which has increasingly become untenable,” said Milemba, who is also Emuhaya MP.
He said the school strikes have proved that dormitories are turning to be the “face of hate” as the students are not bothered with burning classes.
“The state should consider phasing out boarding schools slowly and invest in day schools because investing heavily in national schools will lead to inequality in education,” he said.
Milemba spoke during the local Kuppet elections held in Narok county on Saturday.
During the polls, executive secretary Charles Ngeno retained his seat after trouncing his main challenger Stanley Kirui. Samson Soit was elected chairman while Seela Kuluo took treasurer's post.
Milemba said for school unrest to end, proper consultations between parents, teachers and others stakeholders need to be done.
The chairman said that the union will meet Teachers Service Commission officials next week to discuss the issue of teachers promotions, adding that some teachers have stagnated in one job group for long.
“We want uniformity when it comes to teachers’ promotion because many times teachers in national schools are preferred while leaving out the ones in subcounty schools. They also contribute in getting good results among the students,” the unionist said.
He called on the Parliament to allocate more money in the budget for TSC to employ more teachers following introduction of the Competency Based Curriculum which requires a large workforce.
Kuppet secretary Obwocha called on the parents to help teachers by instilling discipline in their children so as to avoid giving teachers a hard time at work.
Edited by Henry Makori
