This is a guest post by Sironka Ole Masharen.
Students from secondary schools have started streaming back home after the order by the ministry of education for the closure of all public and private schools in the country. However, there is confusion on whether private schools will comply with what they have termed as an uncalled for government directive.
Julius Otundo, the chairman of Nairobi Private Schools Association has vehemently opposed the move assuring parents that school programs will go on as usual. He informed the Kenyan public that they will be in court on Monday to seek legal redress on the issue arguing that closure of their schools will drastically affect their operations.
In Loitokitok, the historic strike has been almost 100% successful owing to the unity of the teachers in Loitokitok and Kajiado as a whole. The teachers’ solidarity in the region was solidified since 1997 when KNUT was felt through the impetus of the September strike which then awarded teachers an increment of over 200 to 300%.
The strike and the subsequent response from the government have created uncertainty to parents and members of the public. Many people think the government should have tackled the issue in a more prudent way than throwing the country into an unnecessary crisis and panic.
Knut emerged from being a toothless bulldog after the 1997 strike; and since then it has been trying, albeit with little success, to champion the teachers’ interest especially on matters of salary increment.
The Union’s history goes far back when the then teachers at Alliance High School, James Gichuru and Eliud Mathu formed Kenya African Teachers Union (KATU) in 1934. In effect, this became the predecessor of the now giant Union which came into existence in 1957 under the stewardship of Stephen Kioni. 1n 1970, the long serving and most famous Secretary General Mr. Ambrose Ateya Adongo took over from Kioni who had found himself in jail after embezzling the Union’s funds.