The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) have warned politicians against interfering with the recruitment of teachers.
The two unions said that it is the responsibility of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to recruit teachers.
KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu was speaking during the Annual Delegates Conference held in Kisumu alongside his KUPPET Counterpart Akello Misori where they said that politicians should stop interfering with TSC’s responsibilities.
KNUT said that they will reject attempts to push the union over the recruitment of new teachers.
Oyuu called on politicians to explain whether TSC had deficiencies in terms of hiring new teachers.
Akello Misori said that as a union, they will closely monitor how new teachers are going to be recruited even though the 30,000 teachers set to be recruited are still below the required number, saying that the country has a teacher shortage of 190,000 teachers.
In addition, Misori urged the government to look into the welfare of teachers in the country.
Delocalization of teachers is another issue that the two unions have asked stakeholders to consider especially with how delocalized teachers are to be rerouted back to their home areas.