Students of St. Georges Secondary School in Nairobi County outside their classrooms yesterday. The government has ordered all students in both public and private schools except Form Four and Class Eight candidates to stay at home until new term dates are announced as the teachers’ strike bites. [PHOTO: BEVERLYNE MUSILI/STANDARD]Private schools have added a new twist to the standoff between the Government and teachers’ unions and announced they will ignore an order from the Cabinet directing all primary and secondary schools to close on Monday next week.
Speaking after an emergency meeting shortly after the government ordered the closures, the Kenya Private Schools Association said they would resist all attempts to close private learning institutions.
“Programmes and activities in all private schools will continue as usual, but if need be, we will move to court to ensure that learning activities are not interrupted by the order,” said Peter Ndoro, who heads the association.
Earlier, a Cabinet statement released from State House had endorsed measures taken by the ministry that all schools be closed for security reasons as a strike by teachers in public schools entered the third week.
The Cabinet statement, however, said technical training institutes, primary and diploma teacher-training colleges were not affected by this directive.
It also advised the boards of management of schools to carry over school fees paid by parents to the new term. “Cabinet is committed to a speedy resolution of this matter and urges all relevant constitutional bodies to demonstrate the same commitment to allow our children to go back to school,” said the statement.
A circular by the Ministry of Education, which was released earlier, noted that only examination candidates would be allowed to remain in school and noted that the exam timetable would remain unchanged.
As a result of the closures, teachers in public schools will not get this month’s salary as the deadline issued by Teachers Service Commission ( TSC) that all striking tutors return to work lapsed yesterday.
The circular released yesterday was categorical that the school closures must be effected by Monday, September 21, 2015.
“Note that this applies to learners in Standard One to Seven in primary schools and Form One to Form Three in secondary schools. The 2015 KCSE and KCPE examinations will continue as scheduled,” reads the document signed by education secretary Leah Rotich.
But the teachers unions quickly dismissed the actions as an act of desperation by the Government.
Private schools also criticised the decision and said they had not been consulted. “We had stated that as long as the strike does not affect private schools we shall continue to teach all the 11 weeks of third term. We are surprised that instead of ensuring security in private schools, they Government decides to close schools,” said Mr Ndoro.
Yesterday, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general Wilson Sossion described the decision as a “tragedy and an act of deceit” designed to intimidate teachers.
He said examination candidates were likely to be restless during examinations owing to the tension between Government and teachers.
““This is a tragedy and someone is keen to send schools to a long funeral. The sober thing to do would have been to honour the court order,” said Sossion.
Defiant teachers
Sossion was supported by the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) secretary general Akelo Misori who described the government’s actions as “defeatist and unfortunate.” “Kenyans are shocked at the manner in which a government can fail to resolve a simple issue that courts have arbitrated on. So they close schools because they do not want to honour a court order,” said Misori.
He said the closure of schools would not deter teachers from pressing for their demands that the government obeys a court order and implement an arbitrated pay hike of between 50 and 60 per cent.
“The teachers in Kenya will not be held responsible for the collapse of education. The Government cannot hide behind unsustainability of teachers pay and at the same time perpetuate leakage in public expenditure,” said Misori, in reference to reports of wastage of public funds by state agencies.
He said teachers would not participate in the administration of examinations this year. The circular said the decision to close schools was prompted by the fact that “very little or no learning had been going on with the exception of examination classes.”
“…as a result, tension has been building among learners who have been left idle under the care of very few teachers,” reads the document which also explained that some incidences of insecurity in schools had been reported by head of institutions and field offices during the strike period. “In order to safeguard the security of learners, staff and school property and thus address the concerns of parents and other key stakeholders, the ministry has revised the term dates,” reads the circular.
The development comes as Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) announced that plans to administer Form Four and Standard Eight examinations were complete.
Knec Chief Executive Officer Joseph Kivilu said some 1.5 million learners would sit both KCPE and KCSE this year.
He said some 937,467 candidates have registered to sit KCPE and another 525,802 for KCSE.
