Teachers’ strike disrupts Form Four exams

Form Four students from St Teresa’s Girls Secondary School in Nairobi leave for home on September 28, 2015 as teachers countrywide defied a court order to return to the classroom. PHOTO | GERALD ANDERSON 

By SANDRA CHAO-BLASTO, schao@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• KCSE candidates were scheduled to start sitting for the crucial final exams on Monday, starting with French, German, Arabic, sign language and Music that are scheduled to run until Friday.

Teachers’ unions Monday told their members to stay away from the classrooms even as the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations started in earnest.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (Kuppet) urged their members to continue the boycott, which they insist is legal. KCSE candidates were scheduled to start sitting for the crucial final exams on Monday, starting with French, German, Arabic, sign language and Music that are scheduled to run until Friday.

Speaking from the Nairobi High Court premises, Kuppet chairman Omboko Milemba said the union would only call off the strike if the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) met a set of conditions it had submitted to the employer.

“We are urging teachers in colleges, secondary schools’ invigilators and teachers of sciences and supervisors not to oversee the examinations as the strike remains on course until we tell them otherwise on Thursday,” he said.

Kuppet secretary -general Akello Misori reiterated that “the strike was legal and protected” and urged teachers not be intimidated.

“As teachers we must be ready for a very long fight in the struggle,” he said.

The duo was speaking outside the Employment and Labour Relations Court where they had gone for a mention of the case in which TSC had filed a petition seeking to have the strike declared illegal.

Justice Nelson Abuodha was, however, absent from court, pushing the matter to Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, Justice Abuodha suspended the strike for 90 days and sent the unions and the government, who have hardened their positions in the pay dispute, back to the negotiating table.

“The parties are supposed to engage in conciliation in good faith limited to exploring valuable modalities of implementing the 50-60 per cent pay increase awarded by the Labour Court, bearing in mind the government’s fiscal policies and budgetary cycle,” the judge ruled.

READ: Court orders striking teachers to resume duty

The government quickly moved to announce the re-opening of all public schools, complete with new term dates that will run until November 20.

The unions, however, asked teachers to keep away from the classroom leaving the students who reported to school on Monday stranded.

Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion said the teachers had gone to court after analysing and understanding Justice Abuodha’s Friday ruling.

“We have been reliably informed that the presiding judge who heard the matter gave the ruling on Friday and gave a mention date is unwell and cannot come to court until Thursday. We intended to make some submissions during the mention of the case,” he said.

Mr Sossion said the strike had not been called off, insisting that the court had only given the unions time to analyse the ruling.

“Statements that teachers are supposed to be in school are a fallacy. We have not reached that stage of advising our members and this logically means teachers remain on strike as we canvass our submissions in court. They should not take instructions from anyone other than from ourselves until we authorise them to resume duty,” he said.

Justice Abuodha’s ruling is already impacting on a series of cases that the unions and their employers have filed in court over the pay dispute.

While appearing before Justice Nduma Nderi on Friday, the two parties amicably resolved to have the contempt-of-court application suspended in light of the ruling to negotiate and the matter will now be heard on October 14 for further directions.

Through their unions, teachers had filed an application seeking the arrest of eight top government officials for failing to obey court orders.
The tutors had asked the High Court to issue mandatory orders directing the government officials to effect the complete basic salary increment of 50-60 per cent.

Justice Abuodha’s ruling is also expected to affect an Appeals court case that TSC, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission as well as the Attorney- General had filed in court, seeking to vacate Justice Nduma Nderi’s ruling on the matter.

Teachers and their employer are today expected in the Court of Appeal for hearing of a case in which TSC had sought a review of Justice Nderi’s ruling awarding teachers the pay increase.

Last week, teachers told Justices Erastus Githinji, Philomena Mwilu and Festus Azangalala that they needed time to consider whether or not to proceed with the case.

They also filed an application seeking a five judge Bench to hear the matter. Through their lawyer, Ahmednasir Abdullahi, they faulted President Uhuru Kenyatta for commenting on an ongoing case, terming the move as prejudicial.

Teachers now want TSC to withdraw the appeal case as a precondition for calling off the strike in order to give dialogue a chance, saying the two cannot proceed concurrently