The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) is urging Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers to join their trade union, asserting that Kuppet is best equipped to advocate for their interests. This appeal comes as JSS teachers seek to establish an independent union separate from the two major teachers’ unions—Kuppet and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).
Kuppet Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima stated that their union is the only organization in the country dedicated to advocating for the rights of post-primary teachers, and thus, JSS teachers should naturally affiliate with them. He emphasized that if teachers want to separate from the two main unions, they should follow the established guidelines for forming their own independent organizations.
“JSS teachers are naturally our members. We are welcoming them to their home (Kuppet). But you know there is freedom of choice, and people might choose not to join or to join. We don’t have any other union that takes care of post-primary teachers,” Nthurima remarked.
He made these comments during the Annual General Assembly for Kuppet’s Nyeri branch at PCEA Nyamachaki in Nyeri town, which was convened by the branch’s Executive Secretary Francis Wanjohi and other senior officials.
Regarding the potential formation of a new union, Nthurima stated, “If there are some who want to form theirs (union), then they will have to meet certain thresholds for them to get registered. You cannot have a multiplicity of unions. But that doesn’t mean to curtail their freedom of association.”
Led by their national chairman Omari Omari, JSS teachers recently expressed that Kuppet and Knut have not effectively addressed their concerns, demanding to operate independently. “Allow the JSS teachers to be independent; most schools are currently crime scenes where JSS teachers want to fight head teachers and head teachers want to fight our teachers,” Omari said during a World Teachers’ Day luncheon organized by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
Educationist Ndung’u Wangenye also supported the JSS teachers’ right to form their own union, stating, “The JSS curriculum is a new segment in the education sector. Their issues are also unique in nature. It is in order for them to have their own union as long as the registrar of trade unions and the national labour board approves such registration.”
Wangenye, who is former Kuppet Laikipia branch Executive Secretary, said JSS teachers should be given their own command structure separately from that of primary school teachers.
“These are graduates and their training in university is to teach a combination of two subjects only. You cannot therefore bombard them like their counterparts in primary schools who are trained to teach everything unless there is a change of curriculum in their training in university,” he said.
JSS teachers want the government to formulate a streamlined command system on their management, arguing that the current system that places them under primary school head teachers is untenable.
Currently, the teachers are operating under primary school head teachers whereas the junior schools are domiciled.
