Law Society of Kenya president Nelson Havi will represent teachers in challenging the new Teacher Professional Development programme requiring them to renew professional certificates every five years.
The lawyer termed the programme oppressive, saying it was imposed on teachers by the TSC.
"After reflecting on what would have been good for my late father and my mother, both of whom were great teachers, I have changed my mind. I will act for teachers," Havi said.
On Friday last week, the LSK president asked teachers to stop calling him to represent them on the matter.
"Teachers, you left Wilson Sossion to be fought to exhaustion by the State. Knut withdrew all cases against the State when you replaced Sossion with a Secretary of ‘your preferred choice’," he had said in a tweet.
In the TPD programme, teachers in public schools will be required to renew their professional certificates after every five years.
The teachers will be required to undertake in-service professional training lasting for five years upon which they will get their certificates renewed.
The professional development will run for 30 years and has six modules each lasting five years.
Teachers will be required to pay Sh6,000 for each module.
The rollout of the programme had delayed for fours years due to opposition from the Kenya National Union of Teachers.
Former Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion had opposed the Teacher Professional Development terming it illegal and that they had not been involved in crafting it.
Sossion also opposed calls to have teachers’ pay for the in-service training.
In 2019, a Labour court halted the implementation of professional development training programmes that would determine the promotion of teachers.
The court observed that there being no regulation promulgated by TSC on the TPD programmes, there was no valid TPD programme for implementation.
