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Teacher unions in Kenya are urging the Government to allow and support the ongoing negotiations on their basic salaries, and demand the approval of a new collective bargaining agreement.

“The Government resorts to delaying tactics so as not to approve the new collective bargaining agreement reviewing teachers’ basic salaries and allowances,” said Wilson Sossion, General Secretary of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), affiliated to Education International (EI).

He also condemned the government’s use of both the Teachers’ Service and Salaries Commission and the Teachers’ Remuneration Commission to frustrate teachers’ efforts to secure increased salaries. ‘’The Education Ministry works with the Teachers’ Service Commission to divide teachers, thus ensuring the non-implementation of their collective bargaining agreement,’’ Sossion said.

Video of KNUT WTD event:

EI: Teachers’ voice must be heard

“We urge the Kenyan government to engage in honest negotiations with organisations representing teachers and education personnel,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “Quality education cannot be ensured when the voice of the teaching profession is reduced into silence and teachers do not have decent working and living conditions.”