Teachers Announce Strike Over Ruto’s Tax Changes
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has received a letter from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) demanding an explanation for why the government implemented the Housing Levy and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) deductions without notifying the two organisations.
According to Peter Amunga, director of communications for KNUT, who spoke with our team, the unions have given the commission 14 days to react to the notices, failing which they will take severe measures, including holding a strike.
Amunga added that these complaints were brought up at a conference on Saturday, August 4 at Tom Mboya Level College in Kisumu.
Teachers from across the nation attended the meeting, where they voiced their displeasure about the impact the deductions have had on their ability to support themselves.
The teachers regretted that they had no choice but to cooperate because the government planned to retroactively apply taxes after the Court of Appeal decided to lift the injunctions preventing the Finance Act of 2023 from going into effect.
The teachers are pushing for a strike. The unions and the TSC agreed that they would refrain from calling a strike during the middle of the academic year. This was implemented following the epidemic to allow students to catch up with the academic schedule, the speaker said.
However, the deal does not prevent unions from going on strike. The Kenyan labour rules include a strike option, and unions may declare one.
Contributing to the NSSF and a Provident Fund created by TSC is one of the topics the teachers are protesting.
The NSSF rates provide for a monthly contribution equal to 12% of one’s monthly wage, of which 6% is withheld from the employee’s pay and 6% is paid by the employer.
On the other hand, teachers also pay 7.5% of their earnings into the Provident Fund.
Amunga claims that the tutors are now in a terrible mood and cannot continue with the academic schedule. He mentioned that the instructors are in favour of the Law Society of Kenya’s (LSK) initiative to file a lawsuit against the new taxes.
The Presidential Working Party on Education’s drastic revisions for the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) were also questioned by the communications expert.
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The number of topics taught in junior secondary schools would be reduced from 14 to 9, with further limits for pre-primary (5 subjects), lower primary (7 subjects), and upper primary (8 subjects), among other significant modifications to the educational system included in the proposed reforms.
Others include doing away with school classifications and requiring all seniors to do three months of community service.
The research also suggests that recent university graduates perform nine months of community service.
Amunga questioned the measures’ viability as well as the government’s readiness to ensure a smooth transition.
Although they look great on paper, most of them are not practical. For instance, while converting schools to junior and senior high schools, you omitted to mention the human resource—teachers. The necessary training is not being discussed by the government. Recent events have been more akin to seminars than training, he said.
He pointed out that the majority of teachers are compelled to learn about curricular changes in the news since they are unaware of them.
He continued, “They are not explicit about tests and measurements; we need precise details on what kinds of assignments or exams will be given, as well as information on who will plan and administer these exams.
Teachers Announce Strike Over Ruto’s Tax Changes
