He affirmed that the situation must be controlled to ensure learning is not compromised come the Third Term in September.
Education Cabinet Secretary nominee Julius Migosi is hoping teachers will not hold their planned September strike over budgetary cuts that will affect their salary increments.
Migosi, who appeared before the National Assembly Appointments Committee on Thursday, August 1, if approved for the position, revealed he would bring together the teachers’ unions as well as the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to discuss a way forward.
He affirmed that the situation must be controlled to ensure learning is not compromised come the Third Term in September.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) led by their leaders National General Secretary Akelo Misori, Jeremiah Omboka Milemba (chairman) and his Vice Julius Korir address the press in Eldoret. /STANDARD DIGITAL
“We should have a clear and forthright discussion with unions and come up with solutions because they also live in this country,” he said.
Migosi further noted that the looming teacher’s strike is a result of a Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA) signed in 2021 between the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the TSC. The CBA was to be implemented between 2021 and 2025.
According to the CBA, the teachers were to receive a 2.5 to 9 per cent salary increment during its second phase from 2023.
But on July 17, 2024, when TSC presented its 2024/2025 Financial Year Supplementary Estimates I to the Departmental Committee on Education, it was revealed that the increments will be affected by a Ksh10 billion budget cut.
Migosi said he hopes the teachers will defer the implementation of the CBA at this point due to the financial challenges the government is having.
He explained that the amount of resources available to the government has reduced following the withdrawal of Finance Bill 2024 and the court judgment that declared the Finance Act 2023 unconstitutional.
He was reminiscent that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the teachers were not able to sign the CBA thus an agreement was made to sign a non-monetary one.
“This gives me hope that they are Kenyans and they will be able to see the situation on the ground and will agree to come up with a working solution even if it is to defer some of their needs so that they do not go on strike,” Migosi said.
However, according to KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu, the implementation of the 2021/2025 teachers’ CBA should not whatsoever be tied to the deleted Finance Bill, 2024 nor Appropriation Bill, 2024.
Oyuu said the CBA was negotiated and signed in 2021, reviewed in 2023 and appropriately factored in the 2021/2025 contractual spending of the National Government.
President William Ruto issues KCPE exam papers at Kikuyu Township Primary School in Kiambu County on October 30, 2023. /PCS
