The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has urged the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to pay dues meant for the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examiners in two weeks.
According to the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) National Chairperson Omboko Milemba, more than 50,000 examiners are yet to be paid their dues, two months after completing their task.
He urged the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to pay the dues by the end of the current month failure to which they will protest outside the Council’s office.
“The examiners are yet to receive their dues. This is despite the huge sacrifices the examiners made to serve their country in this critical assignment. The assignment came after a heavily-packed school year in which teachers hardly took a break from work.
“We have given the examination council two weeks to settle the bills or face the teachers’ wrath. If the bills are not settled by the end of March, KUPPET will mobilize the examiners to occupy the KNEC head office,” said Milemba yesterday.
He said that examiners are often pushed to employ different methods to protest before their grievances are addressed.
“Fair labour practices demand that workers who render their services should be paid commensurate with the work done and on time. The teachers performed their part of the agreement successfully, yet all they get in return is neglect,” said Milemba.
He said that regrettably, examiners who have learners in schools are struggling to pay school fees in these hard economic times, yet the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has not disbursed their dues.
“The work itself is characterized by poor conditions including long hours, poor accommodation in students’ dormitories, poor diets and above all, low pay,” he said.
Milemba said that the dues for examiners are part of other pending bills that the government owes teachers for the work done in ‘acting positions’ at all levels of responsibility.
In addition, he said that teachers have provided the largest service to the government which remains unqualified pending bills.
“Given that teachers’ salaries are also low, having not been reviewed for three years, while others face acute stagnation in the same job group, the examiners have suffered enough and will not stomach any further delay of the payments from KNEC,” said Milemba.