Closing schools is not the solution to crisis facing Kenya’s education sector

Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang (left) and Cabinet Secretary for Education Jacob Kaimenyi during a press conference at Jogoo House on September15, 2015 on the ongoing teachers’ strike. PHOTO | ROBERT NGUGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• This refers to the harsh winter in 1978/79 in the UK, during which there were a series of strikes by public sector unions demanding pay increases in response to an unpopular implementation of pay caps by the Labour government led by Premier James Callaghan.
• Second, drawing from the UK case, the government wrested public support away from the teachers because in the middle of the long-drawn battle, the government set up a special Cabinet committee to deal with the issue.
• A teachers’ pay review team was established and came up with recommendations to restructure teachers’ pay to include incentive allowances. In that case, the government was seen as attempting to resolve the impasse.

By DUNCAN OMANGA
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The government’s closing of all public and private schools is unprecedented. In other countries, the blanket closure of all schools is an extremely rare decision, often a direct result of natural disasters
such as extreme weather conditions, the outbreak of a highly infectious disease, or a security measure such as a possible terrorist threat. The reason offered by the government for the closure — security — is not convincing.

The Jubilee administration seems to be borrowing a leaf from the UK government’s response to the historic Winter of Discontent in the late 1970s.

This refers to the harsh winter in 1978/79 in the UK, during which there were a series of strikes by public sector unions demanding pay increases in response to an unpopular implementation of pay caps by the Labour government led by Premier James Callaghan.

The strikes laid the foundation for intermittent teachers’ strikes, with the highlight being a major boycott in 1985. Like the Jubilee administration, the then UK government deliberately let the strike run for a long while.

The teachers lost a great deal of public support and respect. This left the teacher unions greatly weakened and, in many ways, marked a watershed in their future engagement with the State.

Today, UK teachers’ unions can scarcely afford to call a strike for more than one school day. The Kenyan Government’s contention that intermittent strikes by teachers must stop provides evidence that it wants to follow a similar template.

Although the closure of all public and private schools and some colleges seems odd and callous, it nevertheless is a very deliberate government strategy.

The closure of only public schools means more pressure on the government to meet teachers’ demands. However, the closure of all schools, the legal basis of such a decision notwithstanding, means more pressure from the public, especially parents, for the teachers to call off the strike.

The government knows that the strike will go off the rails if parents start agitating against teachers. Instructively, studies into the Winter of Discontent showed that a shorter strike by teachers won public support but a long-drawn ordeal tilted the balance in favour of the government.

However, there are several blunders that the government seems to be making in dealing with the teachers. First, the decision to close all schools for “security” reasons can easily be challenged in court.

Second, drawing from the UK case, the government wrested public support away from the teachers because in the middle of the long-drawn battle, the government set up a special Cabinet committee to deal with the issue.

A teachers’ pay review team was established and came up with recommendations to restructure teachers’ pay to include incentive allowances. In that case, the government was seen as attempting to resolve the impasse.

Unfortunately, the Jubilee administration is essentially doing little but hurling threats from funerals and public spaces rather than meaningfully engaging the teachers.

Third, the government might have underestimated the unity exhibited by Knut and Kuppet, both comprising a high density of membership in Kenya’s significant education sector.

The fact that the strike was the outworking of a court case lodged by the State, and which it lost, might make it difficult to shift sympathy away from the teachers.

Indeed, closing schools is not, as some may argue, a sign that the government is in control; it might actually indicate the exact opposite. The hardball stance that the government has adopted might do it no good.

While better ways are needed to reconcile the often conflicting demands of workers and the wider needs of the economy, the government will win big if it shows a willingness to talk.

The government must also be wary of the possible “democratisation of greed”, where every group simply wants to cut off something from the State for itself.

Finally, the government needs to remember that the Winter of Discontent produced heavy political repercussions and was responsible for bringing down a Labour government and sweeping into power Margaret Thatcher’s Tories.

Dr Omanga is the head, Publishing and Media Studies Department at Moi University. ankodani@yahoo.com