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Nyamira teachers stage sit-in over allowances

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Published on Monday, 02 May 2011 09:05

Teachers in Nyamira boycotted an annual training programme demanding allowances . The more than 120 secondary school teachers held a three-day sit-in strike at Sironga Girls’ High School demanding to be given allowances instead of accommodation.  “We are demanding that we be given participation allowances as opposed to accommodation. We can look for accommodation on how own,” the teachers said. The teachers were led by Kuppet branch executive secretary Lewis Nyakweba and his Knut counterpart Julius Matwere. They  also demanded that the training, aimed at boosting performance in maths and sciences, be probed over corruption.

Matwere said millions of shillings could be going to waste under the programme adding that the objective of the project is not clear. “We can’t continue having programmes whose objective is not clear to the teachers. Investigations need be carried to unearth what is really going on,” Matwere said.

The teachers took area DEO Hassan Duale to task, demanding that they be given Sh 1,000 daily as allowances. But Duale said it was too late for the  programme to be changed from residential to  non-residential as money had already been spent on meals, bedding and logistics.
“Your demands have come too late because the programme had already been budgeted for. Proceed with the programme as we forward your recommendations,” Duale said.

The teacher at the same time demanded that Duale apologizes to them following remarks he made during the opening of the training on Monday when he claimed that KUPPET and KNUT were enemies of education.

His attempts to convince them to proceed with the training and their recommendations be effected next year hit a deadlock until he was forced to suspend the exercise to August.

There has been uproar from Western, Central and Eastern provinces where teachers have walked out of the training centres this month terming the programme a waste of time and resources.

At the centre of disagreement are unclear management structures, lack of a proper training curriculum, accommodation for teachers, and awarding of certificates that do not earn merit.

The Government project was launched in 1999 in partnership with Japan International Co-operation Agency to set concept of "lesson improvement" to better results in these subjects. With about 1.6 million students in secondary schools, the Government remits about Sh320 million yearly for the programme. Nyakweba called for boycott of the programme by all teachers until a thorough audit is done.